I hate to do them favors, but it would get rid of the eye sores.

The owner was elderly and looking to rid himself of the annoyance of upkeep in the properties, and was willing to take back a note.

If you end up with excess dirt Craigslist is a good way to get rid of it. 

The best way to get rid of a tenant who has a lease is to provide incentive for them to leave.  

In items like drywall, carpet ect it only gets rid of the discoloration.

The main reason for doing MTM is because you want the right to raise rents, and/or get rid of bad tenants 

When he's done with school, I was thinking of getting a property manager and maybe refinancing to get rid of PMI.What are your thoughts on this?  

Another option, would be to give them cash for keys to see if they want to leave.I would have side 2 sign a formal lease unless you want to get rid of the tenant or want to raise the rent higher than the $975, or even do some renovations

At that point, you're probably better off refinancing to get rid of PMI, though.

Ideally you would want to identify the what is causing the money being sucked from your pocket and get rid of, or fix that issue in all the units at once.Edit: I would add, ideally, you would want to minimize your expenses.