Maybe they are a burned out landlord and just dont want to deal with the tenants any more.  

@Freeman Schultz a 60-watt bulb burning four hours a day will cost...$0.70.

ESS told us to “just do our best,” and that was a collective big fat NO. 

I am not indicating this will significantly increase your odds of collecting, but at least there was an effort and the incident will be reflected on their credit report making it less likely that another LL will get burned by this tenant. 

Fortunately, they allowed us to borrow a computer and we managed to find a replacement rental a couple miles away.have you ever been burned by a vacation rental?

Nothing major, but boy was I burned out by the end.Now we have cockroaches in another rental thanks to an abandoned property next door.

But one telltale clue is that blower motors tend to let off a nasty mechanical rubber-burning stink when they fail -- that's usually a dead giveaway.

Option 2) If the money was burning a hole in your pocket and you had to spend it, I like this option better. 

In regards to your comment of tearing down a building and rebuilding: its funny you say that, i just got offered a burned up 7 unit downtown for about $100k.

@Brandon Poe you are right - the vast majority of agents lasts only a year or two and their "lifestyle" is typically burn the candle on both ends and talk to their clients at 11pm, or they are hobbyists and don't do much at all - under 5 deals a year for over 80% of licensees.