The more liberal the location, the higher the risk.  

The seller becomes the bank and pays capital gains one time on the downpayment (which keeps it low to make sense for them) and then also monthly on the payments (also incentivized to just match how much he wants a month).

The rental income at purchase was $8400/mo. 

Quote from @David Martoyan:You need to be thinking outside the box on a deal-by-deal basis.

I would need to know more specs on the house but with material shortages It's difficult to say how much to budget. 80K-120K for full gut perhaps but unsure with lumber beings so expensive and shortages.I would plan 9 months of vacancy between the pain you will endure pulling permits & having your contractors show up everyday to complete the work & then final inspections to get a CO. 

They came in the middle of the night and robbed the place.

The borrower will be responsible for $3K at closing while the lender will fund the remaining $12K for the interest reserve.

This was my first property, and while it's been a great learning experience, I made several mistakes along the way—ranging from choosing a realtor who was more focused on closing the deal than finding the right house to having a poor inspection and overlooking issues hidden beneath the surface (literally).

Did you end up taking the course?

They can introduce themselves face-to-face with the tenants, change the locks to control the property, get a copy of the lease from the tenant or sign a new one, etc.As for the old PM, it sounds like they owe you a copy of the lease and other paperwork (required by law), undelivered rent and security deposit, etc.I would compile your documentation and file a complaint with the Ohio real estate commission.