Whoa, and shiver me triggers...
I just bought a huge house for peanuts. Lovingly restored mansion, over 6000sqft. Owners went on a six-month vacation to Europe. Trusted their treasure to relatives who rented it, trashed it utterly, tore out walls, and left the fecal material of innumerable rabbits, cats, dogs, and birds everywhere. Plus over twenty rooms full of disgusting, soiled, infested furniture. Cost me more for cleanup than for the house, but all together less than $50k. Sellers were heartbroken and just wanted to get past a bad episode in their lives. FSBO sale sign was up for almost two days before I got there. :)
Moral of the story, think twice about renting your house, particularly if you DO care about its resale value.
And that's just one story. I know a lot of other horror stories about renting.
Yes situations like you describe happen. Very sad. Keep reading the thread. Keep reading about my very positive experiences with a property management company. There’s no way to say with certainty that a lowlife tenant won’t trash my property. But using experts greatly reduces that possibility.