My wife has stories of washing dishes using a large tub, and taking cold showers with water borrowed from our neighbor's hose, during the time our water was off to redo the plumbing!

The previous tenants had a dog and a cat in the house, but upon their vacating the premises, the home was thoroughly cleaned by myself and then a cleaning service, most walls were repainted, wood floors were re-sealed with polyurethane, vents were vacuumed and furnace filter was changed.

Hiring tenants to do work has potential to muddy the water when things do work out according to plan. 

Ian Waters

I have the option to put solar and hot water on the roof of my new build.

If not for spam filtering on my phone I'd have to get a new phone.I 'cold call' people but when I do it I say "Hi bob, I'm calling about your property at 123 Smith street.  

What might be concerning is that labor, appliances and systems e.g. furnace, water heater, etc. probably cost about the same for a $50k prop as they do for a $350k prop.

I looked at a bunch of crumbling row-houses in Baltimore today, and many of them had crumbling and cracked brick, rotted foundation, water damage and squishy floors about to give in, and signs at the door saying the place needs to be rehabbed or boarded within 30 days because of code violation.For a typical row-house that's 12 feet wide and 3 floors in Baltimore city, how would it typically cost1A.

I would just find a few ways to filter through the scammers.

Expenses are all separate, water sewage(I pay) Is factored in expenses.