IMO, the OP is fortunate that this landlord isn't viewing this thread; if he were, he might have a change of mind ...

Having a solid understanding of real estate, your market, your potential buyers, what a true deal is, where to find financing, sound professionals when advice is needed and other contacts lays the ground work for being a smart investor.It does seem that the OP is suggesting what defines us as a successful investor.

There is no place for half-assing, and those that do rarely stand the test of time.So what is the point, asked the OP...

I read a good Op Ed piece in the WSJ from a tea party senator from some state.

So, if the agent was marketing the property without the OP's permission, that's even worse.-  If the agent is greedy (as the original post would insinuate), it begs the question of whether the agent would really respect his/her fiduciary responsibility to the OP in the future.  

It's doen here in Virginia all the time.

The OP indicated his balcony's have wooden decks.

As the OP on this thread, I should probably chime in and let people know what all I found out:I ended up going with this company:http://www.identityguard.com/I made the decisions based on information found in this random web page: http://www.knowzy.com/credit-monitoring-comparison.htm The reason I trusted the information on the above linked web page is because it looks like it was written by a person who was faced with this problem and did a bunch of their own research.

I work for an electric co-op and as an inspector I encourage customers in doubt to upgrade to 200 amps.

To the OP.