I see my only option as sending her a letter explaining she must maintain the house and yard and hope she complies.

I have built and remodeled houses throughout my life and am good getting renters and maintaining.

When you give a tenant something in good and working order they should maintain it in that condition or bear at least the first $100 of the expense to repair it.

Also think about the big island of Hawaii.. there you have NO heating systems for cooling systems to maintain.. and you can buy nice rentals out of HIlo for under 100k.. talk about cheap to own and maintain and maximizing your ROI.

Also agree with maintaining liquidity ... at 1st blush, when things are going well, it looks foolish to keep a bunch of cash on hand, but when you have a hiccup or the market turns then cash is king.

When I do my walk through, if the place is well maintained I don't bother them again.  

I do not have much experience beyond purchasing my primary residence and helping my girlfriend rent/maintain her old house.

But the  onus is on the incoming tenants to maintain the appliances.

Better run that past an appropriate attorney.If your "corporate veil" is not properly set up or maintained, the LLC may not afford you and your personal possessions much protection.You might do better to have a trust of some kind between you and the rest of the entity structure.

Below I want to talk about some things one should know about landlord liability and exposure: 1) Landlords can be held responsible for injuries that occur on rented premises if it is proven that the landlord has been negligent in maintaining he property.