I'm doing this right now as a trial.

For those in Illinois, btw I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, I found this from a reputable source online, which explains what I saw happening in court as I described above:The determination as to what constitutes a reasonable attorney fee award is within the discretion of the trial court.  

We’ve built some great systems (by trial and error) to get it to that amount of oversight.

A variation on this is buying a 2/3 plex and living in one side, fixing up everything, once it's done rent out your place and buy another one, repeat. 

Then you can have the variations in-between.

They don't have time to hire an attorney, sue you, get a trial date, file a complaint with HUD, wait a year for a hearing.....

The conversation started as a demand for trial by jury, then quickly turned to a negotiation for settlement, then quickly turned to a very small settlement.

You are now out more than the full cost of your $15,000 house and still have a trial to prepare for. 

If the existing lease is well-written and meets your standards, you can keep them under that on a month-to-month basis, at least for a trial.

Looks like we're going to attempt a variation on what I was thinking and offer the tenant a portion of their deposit back if they'll vacate the property quickly and in good condition.