The water damaged the cabinet footers, the only part that touched the floor.

It's a wood frame chimney covered with stucco, so the water intrusion has caused the wood to rot on the inside.

When I bought it in 2005 I put on a new roof, int/ext paint, new flooring, new kitchen & bath, new apliances, plumbing, electrical, central heat/air, garage opener, water heater, fence...basically everything! 

We had untaped poly sheeting that was holding water during all that heavy rain a year or so ago.

For some perspective, that seems like enough money to buy appliances and a hot water heater every year, or replace the roof every 4 years...again, I think.It just doesn't sound right to me.

I'm estimating expenses to be $5300, including mortgage, property taxes, water/sewer, and insurance.

"We" don't like to stay in places with no hot water or AC.

How would I go about doing this...or am I walking in murky waters?

., water & trash that i currently pay as the landlord.

Things usually take longer than planned, so factor in some bumper time.For example, with our recent hot water heater failure, we had to replace the floor covering (tore off three layers of vinyl flooring) in both the laundry and adjacent kitchen.