Our personal approach involves providing a leasing fee guarantee to mitigate the difficulties arising from incidents like this.

Answer: Yes but there are ways to help mitigate:1) Treat every tenant with respect but still be stern so they respect you.2$ Put x money aside from every monthly rent received for a very good attorney in case things go south or for redoing the whole thing when you’re discovered. 

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

Another option is tear out any damaged material and ALL carpet and then see if you can get a place like ServPro to come in and mitigate the odor, they have ways and devices that pretty much fumigate the building and introduce a deodorizer to the building, not sure they can/will do anything for cat odor but it would never hurt to ask, they are a nationwide company and specialize in smoke/fire damage remediation. 

The pro to the owner/seller is: mitigating large capital gains all at once since the property is currently paid off, and continuing a stream of income with interest. 

Mitigating risks and maximizing returns: The benefits of proper planning.Builds credibility with lenders and potential partners.Exploring Different Exit Strategies:       a)Selling the Property:Assessing market conditions and timing your sale for optimal returns.Identifying target buyers and marketing strategies to attract them.The importance of accurate property valuation to determine a competitive listing price.b) Refinancing:When does refinancing make sense for a fix and flip project?

Fire damage--remove and replace; smoke damage--clean and deodorize (keep in mind that pretty much everything in the same airspace will have some measure of smoke contamination--this even includes the HVAC ductwork) ; water damage--mitigate and dry out (but if its remained wet for a period of time you might be looking at mold--remove and replace).

Make a win-win, stabilize then refi as opportunities for low fixed rates arise or to mitigate risk.

🚫🎓I wanted to pay my loans off first just to get this behind me and mitigate risk going forward as I get into real estate investing so I would have one less large payment taking away from income to both maintain properties as well as save to acquire more doors gradually.

I want to mitigate risk by building a reserves cushion to have ready at the start of the investment and doing this will help me confidently scale.