The tenant wants over 13K to cover stay at a hotel (that only has a small fridge), food for the family, moving costs and storage costs which is about 2x the amount the city expects.

I think a short-term fix-and-flip loan would serve you better because, first, the credit requirements are typically lower than a DSCR loan's credit requirements, and fix-and-flip loans will fund a portion of the purchase price as well as some or all of the rehab costs (usually through the draw process).Right now, saving your cash, rebuilding your credit, and finding both a partner (ideally with a higher credit score AND experience) and lender you're comfortable with should be your priorities.

I am currently serving on active duty in the Marine Corps, so this will be more of a side gig until I retire.

I'm in Charleston and serve the greater Charleston area so if I can be of assistance, please reach out.

As mentioned in above posts you still can build a fantastic portfolio that can serve you and your family for generations to come.

Just food for thought

I've filed the eviction, they've been served with the paperwork, and now all that's left is for me to wait for the next steps and hope I filled everything out right (Denver county's process is making my head spin, and I'm having to do this without a lawyer because of cost) while in the meantime my tenant is otherwise just ignoring all my texts and notices and also (it feels like) acting like nothing has changed, still having people over for dinner, still walking in and out of my front door like no problem...leading up to this point I've had multiple informal conversations with this person about the toll their unpredictable behavior around payments has had on me.  

Seems you'd be well served by taking some time to better define your goals and the timeline in which you want to achieve them.

It served as my primary residence & rental income for a few years.

It served as my primary residence & rental income for a few years.