Maybe when I'm in my hundreds I'll change my mind.  

Replacing the Decking and felt the Roof, Lay all of the Flooring, Install all Cabinets,countertops,sinks, lighting,fans  , Paint the House inside and out , Replace all the Rotten wood ( inside and out ) ?  

Work with the trusted contractor- Wasted more than a few hundreds of dollars for nothing- Didn't pull the permit for Windows replacement which led the harder inspection#2.

I'm thinking of making it an 8x8, L shaped kitchen since they only currently use 25% of their cabinets.

A kitchen w new counter top w/o new cabinets? 

You could allow applicants to enter without supervision and this would be fine until you have that one person that causes a problem, like squatting, and then you will realise how reckless a decision it is to allow a stranger into a property worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars unsupervised.The reality is that if a owner does not want to do the work or is not interested in doing the work associated with operating their business it would be wise to either hire a responsible property management company or sell.As some have indicated there are simple and cost effective ways to do it but safe is not possible.

I was thinking the same...particularly in that area where a couple blocks could be the difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

I guess it just makes me nervous because I know that's a couple HUNDRED dollars that you miss out on simply because of an interest rate.

There are hundreds of MLSs in the United States.

There lies the hardship.If I was a landlord in Seattle I would ensure that I had a documented screening criteria, and if I had any concerns or I wanted to incorporate as much of my own "personal" criteria I would spend a couple hundred buck and sit down with an attorney.The only real winners I see here are property management companies.