Your ordinary objective is to not permit a tenant to ever get free rent in your head, which I believe by reading your many excellent posts, ought to be treated as high rent district!

This is money paid by the tenant and held by the landlord to pay for any damage beyond ordinary wear and tear the tenant might do to the rental unit, any unpaid rent, or any money the tenant owes to the landlord under some agreement.

In my market...Washington DC...this actually would not be totally out of the ordinary.  

Only one entry way to the lower level, which is to this "kitchenette" space, 2x br with one of the br opened to a below-ground-level-closed-in patio (I know, hard to described and weird setup).

This scenario does not sound at all unusual, I wonder why you think this practice is out of the ordinary?

Purchase: $160,0003 bed, 1.5 bath in Fontana, Southern California1110 sq ft condoTwo Story Unit, patio gated with parking entry, new cabinets with granite counter tops, new stainless steel appliances, new paint, laminated wood flooring, new carpet, new bathroom vanity and toilets, new shower tub, new blinds.

I put some of the tenants stuff in the patio and told her she can retrieve it from there.  

There was courtyard patio in the center of the building, and tenants could request to have planters assigned to them, so they could plant veggies or flowers, etc. 

The advantage of having the real estate professional designation is that your passive real estate investments all become active income, meaning you can currently deduct passive losses against your ordinary income.

There are some, not many, townhome/patio home communities with no HOA and these can really help the cashflow, but may require more out of pocket money for exterior maintenance items.