My gut feeling and research is telling me the sellers did a poor job on the breaker panel and wiring.

I have seen these circumstances; people die, go out and buy a car, lose their job, etc… Just my own two cents, I’m not an attorney, just play one on TV

Great job for taking the leap.

As mentioned take a smaller cut to complete a deal if necessary.

Job and Talent Loss : The duration of recovery has and will continue to force migration.

It would be best to befriend a local contractor or even help one out on a job to see any differences from your past eight years doing it in another country.

Was last year abnormal or you think the normMy guess is you will spend a lot more than $200k on an attorney with benefits etc. but if it cuts down in expenses it definitely is something I would consider and even if it costs a little more, having control with having someone in house does reduce unknown costs and risks. 

Changing jobs!

I do not have a traditional W2 job so I can't pursue the typical conventional loan or a FHA since I don't have income (hence the DSCR route).However, I've seen that most DSCR lenders do not lend if the loan amount is less than $100K.

It saddens me to see millions of people strapped to their jobs, trying to protect their holy grail 401K, until they are 60, and then start taking their "distributions", having a couple of decades left to live.