Another thought is to ask if he has used your rental as his mailing address.... if so,it makes it pretty cut and dry.  

Soils near swampland are often nonhomogeneous and mixed with organic matter which decomposes over time.

The basement finished area (not really just a dry walled wall and paint but not livable space) bringing the appraised value of the home to $330,000.00.

The big boys did play a roll in accelerating the correction in certain markets, but only marginally (in my opinion) until that inventory dried up and prices returned to normal. 

Do you know what kind of termites you have (i.e. dry wood, subterranean, etc)?

Usually an "Erickson machine" which is a hand operated drum or "top snake" cable machine will extract a couple handfuls of hair at about 4 to 10 linear feet down the drain.This is the usual fix.If this does not solve your problem I reccomend the services of a professional drain cleaning company.These folks have rolling workshops with drain equipment of every description include fiber optic cameras that can inspect drains as small as 2" in diameter.Choose a firm that strictly specializes in drain cleaning opposed to genral plumbing.These guys solve problems like yours everyday ,,,theres quite a lot to it actually,,,and these guys have seen EVERYTHING believe me,,,Lynn if you indeed have broken remnants of tile or concrete in your shower drain it will be very difficult to correct in a "slab job" house.You may request a technician to attempt vacumning out the remnants with a "wet dry vacumn".He can then a attempt to clear it with a cable machine or a high pressure "Hydro Jetter" machine.If you had a raised foundation house of course you would have the option of a plumber working under the problem area and "chopping out " the section of clogged pipe and replacing it with new material.This is one of the many reasons I do not like nor will I invest in slab houses.Good luck Lynn and hope this helpsDave DoyleLos Angeles

The point I want to underscore is that the idea that hoarding dollars and "keeping your powder dry" was the reason this thread was started.

By your answer Im hoping to create an illustration of a potential worst case scenario for this type of investingIt was fairly cut and dried.

in our west coast markets a good plumber and electrician will knock down 100k to 200k working for a bigger company.our dry wall contractor I may have mentioned before has over 600 employees and a JET  LOL.. 

If rental in that area is in demand then there really wouldn't be a reason for them to put in a wash dry.