While you have mentioned that the tenants’ frequent texts are annoying, it’s best to stay professional and set boundaries by letting them know you’ll update them when there’s progress.

For example, I mention that every adult must pay a $30 application fee, pass my credit/criminal background, make a combined income of 3x the rent, and whether or not the property accepts pets.

As Shawn mentioned above insurance is going to be a HUGE deal in Gainesville as well as HOA's.

The biggest reason I would advocate for mixed use is for the reasons you mentioned, the leases are longer, but also the general "issues" around tenants on the residential side don't come into play as much or at all. 

A bridge loan could work, as you mentioned, allowing you to access immediate capital to pay off the equity agreement and then refinance later once you have more equity in the property.

Most everything else you mentioned has been fairly standard on my builds since the beginning.

As I mentioned earlier, is this really the CEO's focus?

For finding tenants, rely on your property manager as I mentioned earlier.

Like others have mentioned, they will come back to you eventually if they can't sell for the price they are looking to move it for.

A classic drop n swap, what has been referred to in the previous mentions.