My agent said it would most likely be in excess of 100K to repair which may not even include desired cosmetic changes.I guess the point of this post, while it has no direct question, is to vent a little and just get some advice to maintain my motivation.

This is never a useless excessive but a necessary one.

This is investing, whereupon one using their "excess" resources (income, existing capital, credit) to make more "wealth." 

ASAP ideally, but I need a bit of non-9-5 income or excess free cash flow so as to not strangle the REI portfolio growth.

Use an FHA to purchase a home in San diego last year at 95% LTV and your return on investment would be in excess of 100%. 

California charges a minimum tax of $800 a year per LLC, and more if you have gross receipts in excess of $250k.

@Kashif Ali Khan First, you'll need to make them aware through text, email and ideally a USPS tracked envelope that you intend to keep their security deposit (you should have collected this at the beginning of the lease) and all the excess damages. 

You have $5,000; based on your comments above, your parents aren't millionaires with excess cash sitting and you don't have a full ride to college, thus this $5,000 is important towards your college. 

To add the cherry on top , was the spiked punchbowl of free money which further resulted in the excessive bidding up of real estate values.

The government created inflation through excessive, wasteful spending.