For comparison, I just completed two new build duplexes in a flood sone in central Houston using a builder for these and my Hard + Soft costs were $149/ft. the only additional cost to factor in was the land.

In addition, a strong property management company will tackle all aspects of marketing, application, ensuring resident satisfaction, fair housing, handling late payment/evictions, renewals, etc. 

I would have contacted the locksmith tech to get additional details before assuming it was tenant damage.

For this I’ve taken the payment amount of the second loan and included it as an additional monthly expense.

The family viewed the house, loved it, and requested that I install satellite TV and add it to the costs, which I did.

All of our self-storage run at basically 100% occupancy except for our most recent addition. 

Even if the rental has a decent cash flow with additional flood insurance, we're still not sure we want to take on that risk as we are out-of-state investors (planning to move back to KY in the future, but not now) and we don't like that it will potentially bring down the perceived value when we try to sell it in the future.The seller has never lived there and has not provided any information on if it has flooded before or not. 

When you move forward, they should provide proof and name you additional insured.

Here in FL a pool trumps all and having a spa feature built in offers additional ROI. 

You can assume about 1% in closing costs in addition to commissions so you're starting around 7% before the seller gets any cash at closing.