Time not only in everything takes longer than planned, but your own time in blood, sweat, and many times tears. 

well a vacancy can be pretty costly unless you think it will basically always be in high demand. also being a 1 mil home one would suspect the finish's are top end.. so any where and tear there could be costly to replace.a 50 dollar faucet could be 500 in a high end home  that kind of thing.

(I always thought a child could drown in a lot less.)Code enforcement finally had it removed after they attempted to use a 'snow fence' to meet the fencing code.Our Ins cancels/boosts premiums for pools & if we buy a property with an above ground we tear it down a.s.a.p.As far as tenant ins we often add their policy to the cost of our own, but in their name.

Would love to avoid having to do a complete tear down.

Your responsibility is to fix everything that is broken through ordinary wear-and-tear so the tenant is getting what they paid for when they first moved in.

I've done a little drywall, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, and general labor like hauling junk and tearing up old carpets.

But buying one as an investment, the interest on the loan, the opportunity cost on the down payment, the wear and tear, maintenance and depreciation will render the investment unprofitable.This has been a problem with Uber and Lyft.

Told 2 of the tenants in this tri-plex about the new rentals and gave them some info.12:30 pm - 12:35 pm - Drove past a property that was getting a tear-off roof done to check progress.12:35 pm - 2:00 pm - Showing at one of the rentals.2:30 pm - 2:45 pm - Stopped by a rental as one of my tenants had a concern; gave her info on the new properties for rent.2:45 pm - 3:30 pm - Went to the local Menard's (Home Depot equivalent) to pick up a couple kitchen faucets and some light bulbs for a couple properties that I'll be needing in the next few days.So today I worked 4.25 hours!

@Edward Badal I would recommend using a site like truepeoplesearch.com it's free and pretty accurate, it also allows you to track down the possible known associates of the owner and their contact numbers.Buying a burnt house is usually going to be a tear down the framing isn't structural enough to keep. 

Liability for fencing is one thing, keeping it in good condition to normal wear and tear is really on the land owner, not the tenant, damages are something else.As to tenants doing maintenance, a minor fence repair is not a capital expense really, it can be expensed off, minor issues.