How come you NEVER hear about nice clean honorable renter people...do they exist?

I take it you've been a victim of such vandalism, and I don't blame you for not being a landlord again.

My first home of my own was a repossession, and the evicted defaulters had taken all the fittings except the bath itself. Yes, even the toilet, washbasin and kitchen sink. They'd left a big heap of rubbish in a bedroom, and the gas-stove was filthy, but those could be cleaned up.

The estate-agent showing me round said brightly, "You're lucky! They didn't do too much damage We see far worse than this!"

That is precisely why I decided NOT to retain ownership of my house out in Michigan and rent it out. I KNEW it would be trashed, and I had JUST worked so very hard to make it beautiful inside. I didn't want to chase dead beats for the rent, (which I know I would have had to do), and I didn't want to have to pay airfare to fly back and clean up the trash and mess every time an old tenant moved out.

Really have to choose your tenants carefully. Young people especially need to be vetted. They will be into drugs and bring their drug running buddies in, then they need money to buy more drugs so they scavenge. Hard to imagine anyone buying a used toilet, but maybe some do <shrug>. Can probably sell anything for $10.
An older working couple would be better I would think. More likely wanting to keep the place nice. You could discount the rent $200 if they will maintain the lawns and gardens as well as the house, clean the oven sometimes. Make it clear the rent is the full price, but discounted monthly unless they fail to do the task then the rent goes up immediately.
Even with all that you might get burned sometimes.

At least yours is still there.. our former land lady rented to some people who trashed the property and didn't pay rent for a year and then burned the whole entire house down and are still living on the property in an rv 😤

Thats a shame

Smart move. Tenants can bankrupt the owner by withholding rent for years on end.

Been there, done that

I completely understand.

Charge a bigger deposit, honest people will be willing to pay.