There is no sense of urgency on their part to address the problem and as a result it creates bad tenant landlord relationships since you are viewed as not attending to the problem in a timely fashion.

I would fire the PM for not processing evictions in a timely fashion.

The self-directed custodians are non-bank trustees that are regulated in a similar but slightly different fashion. 

Remember "above ground" can also mean it's in the basement, above the ground surface but not under the ground. 

Scraping/sanding the surfaces will definitely allow you to get better coverage on the woodwork. 

If I had the money and was invested I would get a judgement and then keep it active for ever he will surface again some day and you could collect then.. include all parties.

If the house is just a C-class basic housing type place, you could use surface mounted conduit to rewire.

This certainly isn't as crazy as it looked on the surface, so nice job finding something renting well below market. 

Would a regular old-fashioned investment like an IRA be a good alternative? 

The way that changes in interest rates affect commercial real estate values is more complicated than it seems on the surface.