One of my first deals was a past client that fell on hard times and was moving out of state and just wanted to get things over with as fast as possible so they could move on and start fresh. 

You have to be ready to ask the tenants to leave, then spruce up the units to get top rents (fresh paint and floors will make a world of difference).

You have to be ready to ask the tenants to leave, then spruce up the units to get top rents (fresh paint and floors will make a world of difference).

We've had tenants offer things like "Oh, you're here for the rent- yeah we don't have that at the moment but here's some fresh (blank) we've just made, you want some?"

I think there are more options than simply going property management so would be worth investigating.

I would investigate and talk to current tenants and if you can previous tenants to see if this has been a issue before this.  

On those four guys I mentioned, one really does have something approaching a photographic memory -- I've seen it in action and it's barely believable.All four guys have money out the ying-yang from other real estate ventures, solid portfolios of residential/commercial rentals, and all of them have residential flipping experience.They have giant networks of people, contacts on contacts in the business stretching back decades.Two of them have law enforcement investigative backgrounds, one is a former teacher, one used to work for the local government as a researcher.

In my former life as an insurance adjuster I investigated the death of a 16 month old who chocked to death on marshmallow bits.

If its really been there for 12 years there will be tell tale signs like the amount of dust on it, how the vent stack piping looks and if there is any slight corrosion on it or new/fresh screws, newly soldered copper joints, etc.   

I started off fresh out of college with a full time career for a non profit and thought I had it made.