A friend of mine just added another lawn cutting rig to his fleet .

Some references:Scroll down to ""Landlord’s Duty to Find a New Tenant in Texas"http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-rig...According to this article, you need to check your lease to see if you need to give 30 days notice on the first of the month.  

I'd also give them notice that they have to give you keys/combination or you'll be bringing bolt cutters.

If not now, then at time of renewal next year.And yes, landlording is hard, no easy cookie cutter solution for everything.  

I set up as much automation as I can to minimize time: automatic bill pay for re-occurring bills, grass cutter on schedule, tenants deposit rent into bank account, late reminders to tenants via text around the 5th of the month, eviction of non-payers on the 10th (or pre-determined date), and my jurisdiction allows via FAX.

Landlord is supposed to make a reasonable effort to find a new tenant as soon possible and the tenant is not needed to pay rent once you find a tenant.Here is an link that might help.http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-rig...

Yes they are practically giving away these cookie cutters new construction for low prices.

And it sounds like similar to your town, that building's age is the norm and the young professionals aren't racing to live in the cookie cutter homes 20 minutes of town.  

I'm glad I didn't, as I'm sure he would have feebly blamed the credit industry for their "rigged system" just like you have in your post.This is a great lesson because applicants and tenants alike will attempt to emotionally appeal to the landlord to rationalize a red flag on an application or a late rent payment.

That makes dealing with nonpayment of utilities cookie cutter because its the same as not paying rent.