The Bay Area I thought was one of the most TENANT friendly areas of the country so I'd be shocked if in Virginia they would let this sort of foolishness go on man.In any case...keep your head up because I have to believe that when/if this gets before a judge again, they will look at the whole case.....including when she did not show up the first time and essentially wasted the court's time.Stay strong man...it will work out OK.

Ideally, you'd be able to spend some time to build a team on the ground before heading back to CA.

If you only have this problem with one tenant, easy enough to create a checking account with an associated savings account just for that security deposit.

I've been listening to the BP podcast for almost a year now, and I'm finally ready to take action and dive head-first into the RE game!

Rental Housing Association (RHA) also regularly provides classes and resources for managing all this.Make sure whatever lease / rental agreement is written clearly indicates that it will terminate a month or two before your neighbor wants to come back.    

She said she knew the police officer and said he would talk to me, she handed him the phone.He described in great detail what they had found and what happens when someone is shot in the head (something I hope I never hear again for the rest of my life). 

Attend local REIA meetings, any investor meetings you can find on MeetUp.com, local landlord association meetings.

Instead, I decided to spend 11 hours a day disseminating my vast wisdom here on BP, and save you all the fees associated with attending my traveling school of REI.

@Jay Hinrichs thanks for the reply, cant say the thought hasn't run through my head

I am looking for someone who understands the rental market in Rosenberg/Richmond/Sugar Land/Missouri City/Pearland: who is renting, why they are renting, how long they are renting for and a general idea of where that market is headed.