Property vacant for months , repairs not being made , failing CMHA inspections etc,  . . 

Anyways I had met a few people that were doing quite well with AirBnB (due to a lack of quality rentals here) and the general transient nature of Topeka's population - seems a lot of people dont stay here long and I can see why. 

I will use existing rental income and income from my other business (ice cream shops) to fund the repairs needed.

Maybe landscaping, repairing things, painting the hallways, etc to show that you care, before sending the letter.

Make sure you understand the condition of the property and make a list of every single item that needs to be replaced or repaired.

They don't tell you that you cannot evict Bob because he has equitable interests in the title and it can take 120 days or more, plus legal fees, plus repairs, plus MORTGAGE payments, to finally get him out of there.I was sitting here planning to lease option my primary residence and I wrote down my "doomsday scenarios" and realized that I have to spend more money than I thought for legal help to understand and / or mitigate the risks...  

The tenant texted me a couple days ago and stated “we have not lived in the house for two weeks, but I still have a table in the garage and a lamp and some **** there.”Should I return to the home now to get the ball rolling and get this place re-rented by doing some repair work or just wait until everything is removed/ the whole process is done with?  

It depends on where you live but enough for the down payment plus one of the most expensive repairs you can think of like a roof repair or minor foundation issues if you live in a place where this is common.

If they don't qualify for a loan due to bad credit or lack of a down payment when they start renting the house, they will have a hard time saving up the necessary money and repairing their credit in the 2-3 years during an option period. 

Being a local company, providing quality housing and great service is very important to us.