I have had a fire claim and they were painful to deal with until I hired a remediation contractor who lined them out quick.

But the law also offers the owners relief via bringing an action in Civil/City Court to obtain a judgment against tenants or former tenants for their outstanding utility bills.

Thomas Paine Good luck!!!

But obviously if you can endure the pain of managing the process yourself you can save significant money, assuming you're not on a clock.And to answer your first question, yes, you can download(purchase) plans from the Internet.  

I think you should just start looking for a new place, stop paying rent, stop paying water bill and leave.It really pains me, as a landlord myself, to hear he/she is treating you this way.  

The game plan has just changed, now I am thinking of taking the bullet and outsourcing some renovations to save time, and ease the pain.

You know, $95 or $130, make it painful, but not to painful. 

So your agent may want 4% even if 3% is normal in your area, which honestly is the fair price IMO considering what pains in the butt typical FSBO people are (note: 'typical' and 'all' are not the same thing... but you have no way of knowing until you get into it).Frequently, the FSBO seller is also delusional about price, difficult to negotiate with, etc.If your lender is someone like me, they may simply refuse to do it all together unless there is at least one agent involved to do all the agent-ey stuff that isn't my job (and that my license does not cover), or unless you are a seasoned REI that's got a half dozen transactions under your belt (yup loyalty is a thing), or unless you ask really really nicely. 

Lurkers, I'd suggest getting them the first week in escrow, and being a pain in the butt about it if you need to be! 

The inspection issues we noted particularly are:1) some leaks in the bathrooms and 1 kitchen (we will ask him to fix all these-nothing major)2) missing gas cap3) both furnaces need new filters or cleaned4) 9 year old and 17 year old hot water leak both leak at relief valve.  17 year old one has an active leak.5) Vent pipe from both water heaters not sealed at chimney.5) Electric panels (there are 3) - there are different brands of breakers.