I had the PM get in touch with the contractor and he addressed the "issues" fairly quickly. 

I think it is fair..

That being said, In order to successfully invest in the city of New Orleans you must have a fairly deep understanding of the city.

To be fair, I've never actually met anyone who says they've had a note called for this, but it is clearly in the loan docs and is the right of the lender to do so, should they choose.Cheers!

However, if you ever want to replace that home, you'll have to move it off his lot.I would consider appraising the vacant land and trying to cut a deal that's fair.

I had another person try to bargain me down to $1700/month, and said she was moving out of her dad's house and so needed room to store boxes in the extra bedrooms. 

If the issue is no direct fault of the tenant then I do not think it is fair to charge the tenant anything.

I am fairly new to investing and my wife and I are looking at buying our second property.  

Perform the same task in each app to ensure a fair comparison.Load a property with pictures and details.Market that property.See what your marketing looks like from the public's perspective.Submit a fake application to see how easy the process is.Run a credit/screening report on yourself.Enter a maintenance request, assign a vendor, and attach a fake invoice.Enter charges to the tenant's ledger.Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.Sign documents electronically.Run owner reports.After testing a few apps, one should clearly stand out.

If you are just starting, I would think on a leveraged purchase, $200 a month in todays market, that is assuming the home is fully renovated and capex items are fairly new.