Tell that to my neighbor, who's son was a contractor and killed himself in 2010 after his thriving business tanked and the creditors came demanding their money.

It’s from 1997 onwards that prime Bay Area and San Francisco real estate  jumped the shark- which is when the internet really started to dominate the globe. 

I always wonder about the long term viability of those high end rentals because a) if things tank, spending 30k a year on rent because difficult for people and b) it seems like a lot of the renter pool (from what I have seen in my market) are short term renters, coming in to rent for 6 to 12 months while they relocate for work and buy a home during that period.

If the market tanks, you can't afford to sell.

They're having a a meeting tomorrow (May 9, 2019) and it's a version of Shark Tank for real estate.I'm going and hope to see you there.

If so you could have underground tanks that were abandoned in place that will cost to legally remove. 

At this point any proposed resolution is likely to fail (billing him directly for repairs, filling the tank yourself then adding it to his rent) because the bottom line is he doesn't have the money. 

H20 tank install $650 to $700  for labor and material.  

I too have analysis paralysis and have a fear of jumping into the water-afraid of sharks and don't know how to swim.

Well, the laundromat really because I didn't want to wait all day for laundry at home.Was never really successful in any of those endeavors and the 80 hour weeks were really killing me so if I'm being completely honest with myself I'm actually glad the economy tanked and forced me out of those types of businesses.