It's possible that they have past due balances from previous apartments that prevent them from switching the utilities.

I often break it down into the "five pillars" of protecting your assets.1st pillar is avoiding unnecessary and risky activities (don't drink and drive, insurance generally won’t cover your poor decisions) and take good care of your investments - these simple steps will help you prevent lawsuits before they even occur.2nd pillar is a good insurance policy as that cover the majority of your exposure.

I believe it tends to give me a slightly lower return, because the sponsor is going to be more careful, and if there is a severe downturn will prevent me from taking catastrophic losses.

The first reason being a "Safe Harbor Law" restriction...which he explained is a law preventing lenders from charging too much for lower rates (I think?).

To prevent special assessments.

I often break it down into the "five pillars" of protecting your assets.1st pillar is avoiding unnecessary and risky activities (don't drink and drive, insurance generally won’t cover your poor decisions) and take good care of your investments - these simple steps will help you prevent lawsuits before they even occur.2nd pillar is a good insurance policy as that cover the majority of your exposure.

Another question - could i consider this an abandonment of the property (since i wasn't notified beforehand) and prevent the tenant from returning to the property before his lease ends?

These are older buildings in the 1900s, what kind of preventative maintenance can I do to improve the situation?

That by far is the biggest hurdle that prevents most people from investing.Allot of your questions I think have different responses based on your plans after you buy the house(s) are you going to self manage?

I also noted the left side of the driveway was lined with cinderblocks which, after grabbing my tape measurer, prevented this driveway from allowing two rows of cars to park, I just had to eliminate it and add some dense-grade gravel.