It's not just the crappy areas that fall victim to theft.Take the time paint the tools with names and engrave stuff on them in more than 1 place.. so if they are pawned you'll have better chance of recovery,, take photos of what you havebut basically tools for some reason have legs.. they walk off.. never to be found again.The security system stuff is fine but finding the creeps and monitoring the system isn't easy..It's when they rip off the copper, and break stuff that things get personal.

Time for the renovation - the two upstairs floors were manageable; time, effort, a lot of paint, and some minor fixes (thanks YouTube!)

Some questions I have:Should we leave the space in the current state and just paint the walls or should we take out any of the walls and make it more of a blank slate for our potential tenants? 

Per seller house needs new carpet, paint, landscaping, and tile replaced in one bathroom (15-20K?). 

The house has wood siding that definitely needs scraped and painted.  

put on a fresh coat of paint. 

However, it is need of some modernization(kitchen is 30 years old, plumbing and electric need updated, paint, etc). 

Ridiculous Example - If you verbally agreed that he paint the house purple as a condition for him to move in and he painted the house purple, you could argue that's why he painted your house purple.3) Document actions that you have taken to comply with both the written contract and whatever you came up with in item #2 above.

PM's job: Advertising & showing the home, screening tenants, collecting rent, evicting bad tenants, fixing intermittent, urgent problems with your $$, and repairing the house (paint/carpet/upgrades) between tenants.Logistically:- I screen quality, mature tenants who show diligence and care.

I figure maybe $5k is needed to renovate (paint, replace carpets, fixtures).