I was able to able to rent it for 1695 within few days after cleaning and painting.

At that point do you really care about Normal Wear and Tear or are you ready to get the key back and get in there to clean it up and get it rented again? 

If we go and clean between guests (we do that sometimes to take inventory and see if anything is missing), we keep it.

There are advantages to the owner doing this such as routine cleaning of the property and guaranteed rent to be paid on time, fix any repairs etc.This would allow you to take that $50k and and get multiple STRs as opposed to only one.

They cannot.Think this through and figure a way to get some 'skin in the game', however small......maybe offer to contribute even $100 a week from your regular job.Then go get some real world experience in the field.....volunteer at a RE office as a gofer, or at a construction jobsite as a clean-up guy....that will impress a lot of people.....Good luck!

Cleaning person who is reasonably priced and would be able to clean the house twice/monthKind regards,Michael

That afternoon I did a walk thru with my crew and discussed the few repairs and cleaning that we needed to do .

You hire Suzy off of Craigslist to clean it for 50 bucks, and she decides to skip out on you when you need the place cleaned, guess what, you just lost more rent.  

I’ve seen other property managers do similar things with “administrative fees” which are higher than the cleaning fee!

We were able to get it for a great price, clean it all up, have pest control get rid of the roaches, and repair all the damages myself for only a few grand.