Awesome to hear you decided to be proactive on making your unit tenant proof.

By occupying it until next September (2yrs), you will have a tax-free gain when you do decide to sell.

I decided to let that one slide for the time being, until I can get there IF it's still available.

Just wanted to add that, should you decide to work with him, you may want to read the Virginia landlord tenant law about giving written notice that you'll accept any partial payments "with reservation" of your rights to evict if he does not fulfill his obligation.     

We decided it was worth requiring a security deposit in the hopes that tenants would think twice before treating our furnishings that way.The law is not all that difficult to follow.

My assumptions include the following: 8% vacancy (equals 1 month of vacancy), 10% for property management (didn't know if you were self managing or not, but it's always good to put in just in case you decide you do want to get it managed), CapEx and Maintenance of $1500 per year, insurance of 1200, taxes at 3500, I assumed you would be paying no utilities, that those would fall on the tenant and that you would be borrowing the 15K for the cosmetic updates, so I added that to the base mortgage amount. 

I had the same type of experience with another contractor and was thinking about going after him in court but decided not to because he had an Corporation and I was afraid he would file bankruptcy if i went after him.

I would say its up to each person to decide that for themselves.

Just to update everyone, I decided to take out a loan instead of paying in cash. 

I have student loans that I'm prioritizing paying down but after reading through some posts in this forum I've decided to simultaneously save up enough money for a down payment to do my first house hack next year.