The grandmother of one tenant smoked in her room the entire year she was there and we were completely unaware it was happening.

Hey Derek, I'm not a fireplace expert by any account, BUT I do know that the two fireplaces (one on top of the other) cannot be hooked together because if they were, the lower fireplace could not draft correctly and would smoke out the unit above it, most likely pissing off the upstairs neighbors who now have their living room on fire.

@Steven Stokes:Holy Smoke!

Some that have not been mentioned yet in addition to above:Pest ControlSnow removalGrass CuttingPipe / Sewer InsuranceBatteries (Smoke Detectors, Door Bells, Timers, etc...)

I am speaking from years of experience handling the design and maintenance of three high end hotels in Seattle, Portland, and New York.Cheap carpet wears out three times faster than carpet that's only twice as much.If your flooring is top of the line, a few dollars a month increase will pay it off, and it's easy to get a few more dollars when your property looks spectacular.No matter what you do or say, someone's always going to smoke inside, spill drinks, potty train a dachshund, practice naked yoga, and/or feed their kids too much sugar.

You are new to investing and smoked past the number of houses I have in only months and I have been doing this for decades.

For the properties that my business manages as well as our own holdings our general procedure is that we do annual inspections on single family rentals to check the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors as well as a overall condition of the property.

@Dustan Marshall - For going to see the property once a month, we have in our lease that we may perform monthly inspection of the smoke alarms.

However we still smell cigarette smoke, so it must be in the carpet.

(It was tobacco smoke, just to be clear.)Thanks in advance for your recommendations.Joffrey