I would not allow access to the rest of the house as, but would allow access to backyard area w/ patio/fire pit/hot tub. 

I understand taking deductions, but there is only so many ordinary expenses you can deduct.

They look behind the furniture and the bed (checking for outlets without covers).I heard from another landlord a couple years back that the City of Garland made him spend thousands tearing up and replacing a concrete patio because there was a crack and it was a trip hazard.

I would suggest repairing and staining the fence, pressure washing patio and walkway, fixing the blinds that look crooked in almost every picture, and removing the desk lamps in that room.

No reason to hydro jet if they are replacing , backfill and bed the pipe is not a line iten , its putting sand around the pipe 6 inches and filling in the trench . 8 ft isnt that deep , still need a trehch box , but nothing out of the ordinary .  

Receiving interest / ordinary income has no tax advantages. 

If he eliminates 1031 exchanges and increases the capital gains to ordinary income, no one sells.

Also, at age 59.5 when you start to pull that money out, you will pay all your gains as ordinary income.When investing in real estate, it is possible to defer your taxable gains indefinitely, and when you die your heirs inherit the property at a stepped-up basis so nobody ever pays the tax.  

We had $15k between us to our name at the time so I bought a $295k patio home with 5% down (with concessions toward closing costs) and drained our accounts.

The water came up to my backyard porch patio that was basically a level concrete block but never approached even the crawlspace, it was 10 feet out from it.