We just need to verify that you have cash for the downpayment, closing cost, and up to 6 months of the mortgage payment as reserves.

However, if you clearly communicated a $15K budget, I’d stick to that and ask them to discuss the overages with the contractor to find a resolution.As a side note, always try to maintain reserves for your properties.

This deal, i used my first successful buy and hold property and pulled a HELOC to secure financing and reserves.

Do you have cash reserves for capital expenses and improvements? 

My professional background is data science / analytics, which means analyzing cash flows will probably come more naturally than building relationships, which apparently, is how one finds deals worth making.Are there meetups in these areas I should attend (digitally at first, presumably)? 

There are some very aggressive investors that refi into interest only products to free up even more cash in the short term - this can be much more risky though, so not recommended if you are not very experienced and have large reserves.

@Akshay Bhaskaran, off market deals, by nature are not marketed, so as others noted you have to work to find them.  

Each lender can use their own methods of qualification on commercial properties, and most look mostly at the asset (with the exception of your FICO, experience level and reserves). 

Beyond that it's not in my nature to complain; I just like to identify problems and solve them, and if I can't solve them then either accept them or move to greener pastures.  

.- So, you may want to consider locking in an interest rate via a 2nd mortgage.Do you have reserves for unexpected expenses?