Wouldn't people get defensive and feel like I was spying on them in order to get in touch with them about their vacant property?

But if I were to purchase a firearm and concealed carry license and training for the purpose of self defense, without going into the politics, could I tax deduct this expense? 

Use a reasonable figure for your time that you think would be defensible in front of a judge, and add up all the numbers.

You should care about if your money works hard enough for the deal in totality and how defensible the pro forma projects are.

Federal HST hollow points or Cor-bon would make good defensive loads for carry.Good luck!

Btw, we are absentee owners living outside of the country.After much back and forth with their lawyers; we decided not to put up a defense and just pay with they are asking about $8500( $2200 hoa and the rest being legal fees).

I have found the simple (not free) solution is to have a good business insurance (General Liability) because it covers legal defense and many other things about your business, including injury etc... 

Your best defense is solid practice and excellent record keeping so that you're ready if it/when it hits you.Best to not treat rental applications for SFRs like a contract you can enforce.

In his defense, he's currently under a lot of stress and perhaps feels "left out" a bit since I'm the one doing most of this work.

Also, tariffs and trade restrictions can work both ways if things come to that.Finally, there is a lot of positive expectations about reduced taxes and regulations and increased government spending especially in border security, defense, and infrastructure.