Backyard Woes in Rental

[Mariah Klemp]

I recently acquired a property that has been neglected for years. I'm doing a light rehab and going to rent it out. 
The property is on a hill and has some drainage issues, so it's kind of hard to mow. Because of that, the entire backyard and much of front yard is full of poison ivy, so much so that every contractor that has worked on the rehab has been out for a few days because of it. I'm highly allergic myself otherwise I'd clean it up. Several people told me to just kill it quick before renting and hope for the best as tenants don't care too much about a backyard. There is basically just crab grass and poison ivy. Would you spend $5k to have a landscaper scrape regrade and reseed? 

[Theresa Harris]

If contractors are losing days off work because of it, I'd kill it right away and have it dealt with.  If the rest of the grass is crab grass, leave that. The grass will still be green and it is harder to kill than other grass.  Kim is right, most tenants won't take great care of the lawn, so to spend lots of money now and have a tenant move in and not take proper care of it is a waste of money.