I'm also helping a couple of investors buy properties in that area as well.The SW side can be very tricky because the character of the neighborhoods can change within a few blocks of each other.

Your burden of proof would require you to prove that any damages occurred during your ownership of the property which in my opinion would be impossible as you are not even sure when she left

Area average is 750 on rentometer and my brother gets 700 for his units a few blocks away.  

@William Kyle Walker  again don't know the context but I have been around a few blocks a few times.. and if I have seen people flame out in RE its robbing peter to pay paul.. its slippery slope that once you get behind many times you can't recover and it just gets worse and depending on the situation here IE you have investor it can move to a criminal type thing..

Damages have exceeded his deposit even without including much of the paid labor. 

I'd like to create a list of things to look for that aren't obtrusive and annoying to tenants while focusing on the high frequency issues, and damage beyond expected "wear and tear".Thanks in advance!

PVP (including the less jumbled up blocks/areas of san pedro) is synonymous with luxury (unlike Compton and increasingly many urban areas of socal) so at least there is value added / luxury potential appeal to any multifamily you invest in, ie get as a fixer upper deal and actually hold long term for rent cashflow - as opposed to flipping(which subjects u to capital gains).

More risk in terms of collections and damage by tenants or other external influences (i.e. thieves).

Thank you Sandra for the heads up, I retired in 07 and never encountered it in the field and the damaging effects probably took some years to manifest....  

Those who invest in physical property to earn money as rent must also make themselves available to tenants and manage potential problems within the building, such as conflicts between tenants or legal disputes over damage to the property.