@Kristin MathernI would pay it given no keys were provided, it wasn’t specifically addressed/mentioned in your lease, you were provided the opportunity to address/fix yourself with a 25-30 dollar replacement from Lowe’s/Home Depot, and lastly, it was an existing situation that could have been avoided/prevented at move in.

For example, I mention that every adult must pay a $30 application fee, pass my credit/criminal background, make a combined income of 3x the rent, and whether or not the property accepts pets.

With no mention of price, location, rent etc.....

Both Charlotte and Raleigh are very strong growth markets, for all of the reasons that you mentioned.

You start by mentioning your age... you'd need everything to go just right for the rest of your life to make, best case, $400 or less additional each month net cash flow. 

As others have mentioned, having a good ballpark estimate of rehab costs before closing is also smart, and likely required if using a hard money lender. 

Looking my insurance policy it mentions that I can opt for settlement under Actual Cash Value vs Replacement Cost. 

I don't remember the exact cost when I did it but I remember thinking it was cheaper than expected.I didn't see a comment mentioning that you should just include utilities in the rent and increase it based off that so I'll be that guy.

I recently read a book that mentioned there being a lot of power and benefits of a personal corporation but I'm curious as to when a corporation is actually beneficial over the latter. 

As Nicholas mentioned, house hacking is a great way to dive into investing.