That way it would be very clear who is at fault.Painting exterior of a property is not a cheap few hundred dollar job so im very surprised this would happen unless both you and the person you hired is not experienced enough / licensed.I don't want to make any assumptions or point fingers, but it sounds like it just your word against his.

Find an experienced landlord-tenant attorney in your area. 

I had a more experienced investor this past weekend (when I was complaining about the price of business loans) more or less tell me to suck it up, because 6% is still super cheap money.

Experienced and decent borrower too who actually got a CA bond to pay for the horizontal improvements. 

I'm currently in a Real Estate Investing course (through my college) and need to interview an experienced real estate investor for one of my assignments.

You can rollover any other retirement plans you may have into it, with one exception: Roth IRA.It has been discussed at length many times here on the forum, here is a link to one of those discussions for you to learn:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/2810/21298-sol...There are several experienced professionals including myself that you can find who are active forum contributors, check out responses and see whom you wish to contact to discuss your situation in details. 

Lot of good things happening there and prob good to connect with someone experienced in that area, as it can work if that is what you are looking for, but it is still rough.Article is from earlier this week about a man who went missing collecting rent there:  https://wp.me/p11qns-3OA4

I good place to have this conversation is with other experienced investors who have been where you have been. and the best places to talk with other people in this setting is at the following: #1 Next Tuesday we are having a meet up in Memphis. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/60...#2 Every Wednesday morning I am at coffee and would be happy to discuss with you what I have done and am currently doing with my $50k in savings. 

@Jenny Cuevas Most important, I recommend that you find an agent who is full time.If that person is experienced in working with investors, that's great too, but if you have a part-timer, you'll be forced to work around their schedule.

I recommend that you find a partner who is experienced and will go 50/50 on the first couple of deals.