Assuming that's California, you want a California lawyer.

Heating costs go up in winter, as does electricity due to the reduced natural light and more people indoors.

Hard to understand your post but am assuming you are saying that the individual acting on behalf of the seller was assumed to be an agent but you are finding out they are actually a wholesaler?

I was playing with the idea of selling my condo, taking 300k of the equity to put a down payment towards a house listed at 660k.I'm assuming the reno will run $300/sqft and going in with the assumption that phase 1 will run 750k (figure the expansion of the house will have to wait) for the gut reno.I assume/hope (but definitely not banking on) that I will be able to refi in 2-3 years at a lower interest rate; if not for a lower rate.This will likely be a family home for the next 5-10 years at LEAST so investment value isn't quite at top of mind ATM.Questions:Even if it's not for lower interest rate, do you feel it's advisable to refi to remove the 203 loan in the future?

Town is mix of people working to vitalize area and people trying to hold onto past. 

Quote from @Dan Heuschele: If in the city of San Diego there is current eviction moratorium and you will not be able to get them out assuming they are not destroying the unit.  

To make the math easy let’s assume you buy a 10 unit building were each apartment rents for $1000 a month.

The number of longer term renters looking for a furnished home is a much smaller pool of people. 

I am assuming that a judgment will be difficult or impossible to collect.

You would want it to appraise for $200k (assuming they require 20% down + closing costs) so you would then have a $200k loan but have received your $150k back to do it all again. you could also do this with a bridge fix and flip loan as well.