Then you'll be fixing the drywall that you destroyed in your own home vs. the drywall that a tenant destroyed in one of your rentals...

If you're getting $600/mo and of that $100/mo cash flow just the placement fee of 1 mo rent will destroy 6 months of profit.

The last "cleaning" I did involved replacing 6 brand new miniblinds that the tenant's cat destroyed and they had to be cut off because of odd sizes; stove was filthy; refrigerator was filthy; new storm off it's hinges, new carpet not clean; fireplace filled with burnt logs, cat hair and dust everywhere; light bulbs had to be replaced etc. etc.

If they destroy your property or skip out on rent how will you collect from them?

If not just compose one based on your observations and hope that the former tenant accedes to it, some will, some won't.I used to have a room-by-room checklist which noted some of the following:Condition of walls and paintCondition of carpetCondition of doors and doorknobsCondition of ceilingCondition of light fixture and the bulb worksCondition of toilet, sink and tub in bathsCondition of stove, oven sink, garbage disposal and dishwasher in kitchenCondition of grass and shrubs.On the move out version I had a list of amounts that I was deducting, including but not limited to:Missing door stop (the move in one showed that there was one for EVERY door) $5.00Hole in wall from doorknob going through it (somehow in my 60 years on earth I've never destroyed a door stop or knocked a doorknob through a wall, but it's not hard to tenants) $75.Pooper scooping the yard $5.00 per pile.

They had first thought they had a burglar break into the home and destroy it, until they came across this guy in the tub.

Destroyed carpet and huge flea infestation.

In my opinion, that is cheaper than going to court, get tossed out, start over, all while he is destroying the property.

Interesting side notes-1) the two current tenants are longterm 4+ years, but are also not clean and tidy at all.2) there are several very nice houses in this neighborhood, but the one next door is condemned (in tax default), and a house a couple blocks over has been destroyed completely by fire.3) Comps of SF and MF homes are all over the place in the area and it's pretty much impossible to get comps on this type of unit even going back 2 years.Any suggestions on how I should factor the current tenants, neighborhood, comps or empty unit potential???

Martin describes, but we had the hardest time keeping Soldiers from destroying them in the military and those are supposed to be disciplined people that are under as much "control" as people will ever be.