Security deposit plus move-in fees cannot exceed the amount of the first full month’s rentNon-refundable move-in fees are limited to only tenant screening reports, criminal background checks, credit reports, and cleaning fees.Total non-refundable move-in fees are limited to 10% of the first full month’s rentPayment Plans Required –Landlords must allow an installment plan to pay a security deposit, a pet deposit, move-in fees, and last month’s rent.

they are for real.. but my dealings with them were that they are pretty well disorginzied.. but then again they are dealing with folks that have trashed credit... and usually not savvy to the financial world at all.. so it takes a lot of hand holding.. and at least when I sold.. they wanted me to give significant discount so the rate could be bought downat the end of the day though the buyer got a smoking deal.. but there is a huge drop out of those who just can't get through the program and probably never will clean up their credit etc.

Hand it to the person as is.You are basically placing your interest on the property and the son will not be able to sell the property with a clean title because you have placed a claim on the title.

The easy way is to obviously take out a full loan, pay off the other siblings, but then we would be borrowing more money than would be necessary.Maybe I'm missing something obvious - but that's the only clean way I can see to approach this process.  

Take time to clean dirt, remove nails, spackle and sand, it doesn't take much time to do it right.Hopefully you haven't already done new flooring, if so be sure and protect it.

Figure out how much you want to clean up and lock away your stuff in your own house.I rent rooms to people in my house.

I will also say, tenants aren't stupid-- if they know you are coming (required 24-hr notice), and they are doing shady stuff, you better believe they can clean up!    

Nolo California Landlord's Law Book says I should direct my effort to speedy clean-up and replacement of damaged areas.

I am very busy cleaning up and repairing the house.  

I have learned that a routine repair at a rental property can be thrown totally out of proportion by the tech, handyman, professional saying something that the tenants misconstrue  when fixing a problem  after a  tenant calls me with an issue....