Some municipalities will let you pull new permits and move forward, others may require you to resolve the previous owner's violations first.

Here’s a full, distilled synthesis that pulls together all 13 responses + the final long one, with extra focus on what people repeatedly agreed on and what showed up most often.Executive Summary (One-Page Takeaway)There is overwhelming consensus that:Normal wear and tear is expected, unavoidable, and not chargeableSecurity deposits should only be used for clear, provable damageBorderline deductions are almost never worth the conflictThe standard is not “what technically could be charged,” but “what you’d confidently defend to a judge”Most experienced landlords and PMs favor a conservative, documentation-heavy, expectation-setting approach that prioritizes fairness, consistency, and dispute avoidance over maximizing deposit recovery.The Strongest Areas of Agreement (Mentioned Repeatedly)1.

Also, I don’t think it makes sense to pull out of real estate right now.

Conservative first win > perfect BRRRREven if your first deal doesn’t pull all your cash back out, getting a clean, stabilized rental that cash flows and teaches you the process is a win.For context, I’m a real estate agent based in Memphis, TN, and I help a lot of SoCal investors get started out of state with buy-and-holds and BRRRRs.

Pull 3-5 active listings for similar properties in the area to verify   - Did you include all expenses?

I looked into the history and it was put on the market during the summer, went through price reduction after price reduction, only to get pulled off the market for a couple of weeks. 

You refinance it conservatively and pull out a portion of the equity as cash.

We picked this up for $70k (listed at $100k) for an investor client in Austin, TX ON THE MLS.ARV: $150k, Rehab - 36k.Rental Rates - LTR - $1250-$1300/mo Midterm Rental - $1800-$1900/moWhy we pulled the trigger:It looked rough, but the bones were perfect.

Interesting data - I still wonder where the western NC second home market is going to settle out from all of this.100%+ price increases since 2019, prices seem down a little from the 2023 peak, but it also looks like a seller's strike in the market I'm occasionally looking in.Not that many listings, still elevated prices, and properties either get pulled after 3-4 months or there's a grindy sales process and eventually someone buys for a little less than the previous comp.

When I was deciding whether to pull cash out, I found doing an engineered cost segregation study created way more useful cash flow for me than a high-interest loan ever could.