Jeff, Charging them for the carpet cleaning, paint, etc is common practice and taken out of their deposit if your lease is written correctly.

It is fairly new (less than 10yrs old) and needs light rehab of about 6-9K (paint, carpet, light fixtures, maybe appliances).

Even something as simple as paint can require the approval of the HOA.

Townsend - thanks for the tip.

The garage has drywall that was painted about 13 years ago.

I guess my situation could be worse, but I have a great multifamily under contract which very conservatively needs about $20k worth of work to be 'nicely' fixed up- new stucco, paint, carpet, updating bathrooms and kitchens, etc.The problem is I already have an FHA loan, and won't qualify for the ideal FHA 203k program.

Keep it up and thanks for sharing the tip.

But I wanted to post that tip in case someone else comes across this thread while looking for help tracking down old liens.

Holding 20 years you'll probably get a new roof, appliances and how many paint jobs.....The neighborhood will be 20 years older,that 100k ranch style could be nearing 40/50 years old.

I get investors all the time looking for a property with just carpet and paint that want to pick it up for less than list price.The problem is that so do home buyers.They do not have to make the spread for a flip or hit certain numbers for cash flow.If the home buyer puts in carpet and paint and only picks up 5k to 10k equity with current market values they are happy.So to recap all things being equal many asset managers will take a chance on a finance buyer if it nets them much more.The asset manager might be telling the listing broker to work the finance offers to get to close and achieve a higher net.If the property needs considerable work that generally weeds out the home buyers as they can't get financing.