If it's a couple of $ thousand, I'd just pay for the repair and move on.

I am not buying, selling, investing or anything related to BP.DM me if interestedBuying in Kensington is either a total disaster or a very brilliant move, depending on your timeline.

And YES, far FAR too often I am seeing people stack up UN-realized expenses at a compounding rate, to give selves a false sense of "profit" on whatever monthly/quarterly capital there moving around. 

For context, downtown Alexandria performs super well as a rental market and bringing in $5.5k+ as the monthly rental income if you choose to move out of the househack in the future will be absolutely feasible (depending on the property of course).

You'll want to explore this with your accountant and see what side of the fence they are.What is more a concern to me is your plan to let the property sit for a couple of years and then move in. 

These are factored into the mix.In the future, I will suggest that you request a move-out report along with pictures and/or video on what needs to be taken care of. 

When I discover I can't build a house on it, I usually move on to the next deal without thinking about an alternative use but I like your creativity and will start thinking about alternative uses!

While it’s tempting to see the low-interest, self-repayment setup as a win, the key question to ask is whether the opportunity cost justifies the move.

Keep in mind that MTR bookings average 3 months so you wouldn't want to move utilities that often. 

If you don't have that, figure out how you are going to get it so that you can move from 'reading about real estate' into 'doing real estate'.