I have yet to have a situation where a tenant voluntarily leaves without skipping out on 2-3 months rent and a mess to contend with.It usually begins with delay in rent as you experienced and after having the same communication as you did they promise the world but I still file the notice to quit and begin the court proceedings because here in CT it takes a long time to get a tenant out and they draw it out till the Marshall comes knocking.The latest tenant eviction last month was a real pain because he made us draw it all the way out till the marshall moved his stuff to storage.

Marco Santarelli - I know there area ton of threads on BP regarding investing in outside markets, but in your opinion would it be realistic for me to invest in an out of state rental property in a stable market or is would I be setting myself up for headaches because I am not a "hop, skip and a jump" away?

Do I replace and make it brand new or do I just skip?

It is critical to check them out and to not skip steps.

Probably be better to skip the commission and negotiate a lower price.

Remember, PMLs are usually someone you know so I've skipped due diligence of each other.

Having the last month in place up front has pretty much stopped tenants skipping out early and saying, "oh by the way, my security covers the last month's rent".If your current tenant came with the property and a lease already in place, then s/he probably has tenant's rights and you will have to wait for that lease to terminate to make any changes.

But don't skip the notice to terminate.State law varies for noticing the tenant of change of ownership and termination of tenancy.

My initial thought was to have a wholesaler help me acquire, but I was introduced to a skip trace website, from a BP member in my network.  

It wont be as effective if you skip using parts of it. 5- Their system is complicated, since it has to accommodate a lot of sizes of companies, and types of companies.