It also eats up part of your 1031 and leaves you with the remainder to purchase a second property.Some shotgun thoughts.1.

I figure I’m eating the final service fee for the guy going back and finding no problem.

This eats up your due diligence time to acquire a loan.

As you acknowledged you could payoff the loan but closing costs would just about eat up any remainder.  

Its important to know when they will need replacing and if you'll have built up a large enough CapEx reserve to cover the cost or if it will eat into your cash flow.

I would focus on repairing your credit. see a specialist (faster) or open credit cards little by little and pay them off each month. im not saying increase your spending, just saying instead of buying that tank of gas in cash use a cc and immediately pay it off. while your credit is repairing, start banking cash. build a budget and stick to it. 80K a year is good money, make it a goal of yours to retain as much of it as possible i.e. don't eat out, don't go to the local pub, drive a modest paid off car etc. once your credit is up and savings is up, use the 80k a year plus savings to get leverage. then use that leverage to buy your properties. if your looking for a get rich quick scheme, id advise u skip over RE. don't get me wrong, you can make money fast by flipping homes but you didn't mention having experience in that area so I assume you don't. another option if your really in a hurry is to find a partner with experience and cash, and see if you can buy into one of his/hers deals. you would have to market yourself for this and see what type of skills they may need that you have. maybe you can buy in and use your web development skills to beef up and/or maintain your partners website saving them money on outsourcing. that might be your ticket into a partnership. since you mentioned your helping your friend, maybe you can partner with him?

As long as you are not eating the paint chips with lead in them  you are typically fine. https://www.epa.gov/lead

You will be skewered by the press and the lawsuits alone will eat up all of your time.

Its always painfully surprising how many various fees and charges will crop up and eat your money. 

Just be careful with condos as HOA fees and assessments can eat your cash flow.