Study the Realtor listings and note down the advantages of the home that the Realtor or agent  is listing - you will see a pattern - Realtors know what sells in that price point and you can glean a lot of helpful information about marketing from being familiar with them.The other thing that I would say is try to get a feel for the materials used in the higher end homes and include at least one of those if you can - feature walls, subway tile, a granite island top if you don't want to kit out the whole kitchen etc.

For example, in Cali, to collect a late fee, you must provide a separate  three day cure or quit notice and cannot tack a late fee onto the pay or quit notice for late rent.If the tenant is on a month to month and paying late seems to be a pattern, consider giving tenant notice to not renew the tenancy and start with someone fresh.

If she is has a late payment pattern on a 60k income with high debt you would have most likely gotten a decline.I am not to concerend about their debt load, as long as they have a good track record of paying on time like clockwork.

@Terry Brennan, Sounds to me like this is a reoccurring pattern with nearly new tenants.

Once you have done this for awhile, maybe a pattern emerges that you can use for your investing criteria for a quick reference.

This charge was clearly non-violent (if it is as you described), and sounds like it was probably more akin to a teenager stealing a street sign than it was a pattern of criminal behavior.  

Use either one of the fancier laminates, with a marble look and a fancy edge.

I'm 62 years old and my mom had a green linoleum kitchen floor in that same pattern, green fridge and range as well.

There is a pattern here. 

It messes up the traffic pattern too much.If you change the access to the w/d to the hallway, and close off the wall on the kitchen side, then you have that space that looks to be around 12" deep that was in front of the w/d access, at least, where you could put a narrow counter all across that area where the closet opening was.