But if the license is required and its a flaw on the lenders side you can bet the borrowers attorney will raise that.. 

It's a way of hedging my bet using as little cash as possible.

But that is the key with investing, you need to have your educated guess of future events, place your bet, and hope you are right.

In today's market, your best bet would be a house hack.

Why don't you "do better" and be kind to Internet strangers instead of leaving them condescending messages?  

You can buy something like a cheap Arlo camera system at Costco and pay for the Internet connection in one of your units.You could ask law enforcement to do routine drive-bys or safety checks.

That is your best bet to ensure it is watered regularly. 

I'd bet that for the last 50 years, investors looking at Boulder have felt it was unaffordable, and that the numbers don't work for investors.

I do agree that mechanical upgrades are a good idea if necessary, those are almost always a safe bet for ROI and resale-ability.

If you are looking for cash flow typically multiple unit properties are going to be your best bet but might require a little more work up front and there are not a lot of them around the area to scoop up right now.