@Clay Hall, I like a HELOC on my primary residence as an emergency fund, and wish I’d had that extra money when I got started, simply as reserves.  

It goes deeper than that.NYC Liberal policies, including strong tenant protections, increases the risk of failure so much that the risk far outweighs the rewards.Financial ruin is just around the corner for the small Mom and Pop Property Investor that it doesn't make sense for them.The Tenants will have free Attorneys that are bent on delaying eviction cases so long that it stretches into years while Mom and Pop suffer from lack of rental income and still have to pay all the bills and do the management.Additionally, the increase in homeless living rough in the streets due to Sanctuary laws causing a lack of shelter beds, then evicting shelter residents after 30 days creating more homelessness, policies that tie up the Police's ability to arrest perpetrators, etc. only causes Mom and Pop to sell out at large discounts to larger Landlords who are capable to use Economies of Scale to eek out a profit.These larger Landlords will eventually turn a much higher profit as the pendulum will eventually swing towards the middle when the NYC Voting population eventually realizes that it's not a conspiracy of the Rich that's causing the Wealth Gap to increase.It's the same liberal laws that encourage people to become lifelong tenants, small Entrepreneurs (including Property Owners and small Mom and Pop Businesses) to be destroyed, and Rents to rise astronomically as housing becomes scarer even when the population declines by as much as 7% in the last several years. 

I am leaning towards as-is due to the lack of funds in my current situation.

Sometimes it also could be a lack of marketing by the realtor but it's usually price and the area.

We ask simply questions, like were they late, did they have lease violations, outstanding debt and would you lease to the tenant again.

just be thankful you can get one at all. most banks simply dont offer these.

When the transaction didnt close, you simply should have received your funds back.So what Im seeing here is the guilty party is probably the title company.

Being at a slight operating profit or break even is completely fine with my though as I'm not looking at this as some get rich scheme, it's a long-term investment.Based on this, I'm looking now more into getting a more utilitarian STR targeted at business travelers where the goal is similar to my LTR's, getting long-term appreciation and mortgage pay down and making enough cash flow simply to cover repairs. 

Negotiate the price down to cover that repair, or walk away from the deal.Based on your lack of experience, I would walk away and keep looking.

Bad season for us means shorter season or less people coming up during the season because of the lack of snow as most of our money is made in this season.