When life gives you lemons

This is my fixer upper in Columbus, Ohio. My husband and my brother, with a little help from me and my nephew, turned this 1930's 3 bedroom 2 bath into a nice home. Granted it's not in the best neighborhood, but, it's not in the worst either. November of 2007 we finished it and put it up for sale, the market sucked of course, but we got a renter/buyer March of 2008. We thought we were helping out a single Mom who was moving to a new city, couldn't afford to buy a home yet but we gave her the opportunity to rent our house and build up her credit enough to buy it and become a home owner. I guess it was a fairytale for both of us. She has not paid rent in 4 months. We were nice enough to give her 30 days to move (Ohio has a 3 day eviction process) again shooting ourselves in the foot. The house is full of trash, they changed all the locks, holes in the hard wood floors, completely turned off the heat so the pipes could freeze in the 30 degree weather, and took the alarm remote. I am so disheartened. Please someone explain the rationale. Why would you trash something nice someone is trying to help you own? I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition and see people who fall on tough times get help and they are so grateful...do they end up trashing their home as well? I'm very disheartened...but that doesn't mean I quit. I know what I did, by trying to help this person out, was the right thing to do. I know it can work. I still believe that real estate is the way to go..it's something tangible, something real, not worth as much as it was a few years ago but, still worth money. It is just a game of numbers. Thomas Edison tried over 10,000 times until he finally got the light bulb to work...where would we be if he had stopped trying? In the dark, like my poor husband because the renters broke ,stole or unscrewed all the light bulbs in the house...lol. Ya gotta laugh..pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again.
Work has been steady...4 or 5 days a week. Anything I can do to help pay 2 mortgages. I thought about a job in education. Monday - Friday 8-4:30 no weekends no holidays, a nurse's dream...but, also not a sure thing. Budget cuts are looming in the shadows and I see educators on the top of the list. I have an orientee with me...she is a really bright girl, very sweet and kind. I think she is there, at that big downtown hospital, for the experience. I think she would fair much better up in Scottsdale once she gets her experience. But, again, jobs are pretty scarce these days, you don't get the luxury of coming in and naming your price and hours and which days you'll work. You are glad to have a job that pays your bills.
Well, wish me luck and, if you can, please help me to understand people. Non noc nocere.