Understand how they slipped through the cracks - did you allow them to book even if you got a bad feeling, priced too low, last minute booking, etc? 

If you own a vacation rental in the Smokies, it might feel like demand is soft.

It really comes down to what specific documents you need from the tenant that you'll feel secured and comfortable of renting it to him/her.The typical criteria would be credit, background check, renters insurance, first + last month of rent + security deposit.

Maybe this topic has already been covered in this forum; please feel free to direct me to the previous posts.

If you need any advice on areas or anything else, feel free to message me.

If you're looking to wholesale feel free to reach out, would love to chat and I'm looking to buy 

Nevertheless, leasing does feel like a waste of my money.

I would say if you don't know the area, you should check the eviction database for that street to see how often evictions occur, you should check crime on neighborhood scout or some other site, and you should drive by the property late at night and see whether you would feel safe getting out of the car.  

It is crazy that the government can basically change terms on existing contracts/leases.

I have a handyman do a lot of my work but sometimes I don't feel like that actually fixes the real problem and anytime digging is involved people want to charge a fortune.