One thing you can do is go to the listing agent and have them broker the deal as a single-party listing, which often is done for a reduced commission, which BTW is still on the seller and not on you.  

NYC is vested into this program because they want to reduce the recidivism of people leaving and coming back into shelter. 

They have the authority to receive and investigate rent complaints, issue subpoenas, hold hearings, and order landlords to reduce rents for specific reasons.

- It gives you peace of mind to know that should a loss occur, having funds readily available to replace lost items will reduce the strain on your relationships.- It’s very inexpensive and easy to obtain a policy.

Reduce expenses.

When you talk to the township I would lean heavily with the fact that you assumed no permits would be needed because you weren't changing the square footage and you were doing the work, but I don't think that rationale will ultimately prevail - although it might help reduce the fine.

For example, buy properties with a 10% return, and you will have 2500ish to reduce that $5K expense a month; then you can save more money quicker, gain more skills to increase your active income to pour into LTRs to get that ROI up to quit your job in 1-2 years.

However, this would reduce my total retirement savings to about 450,000 K. 

Make sure they use flat white paint for the ceilings (no shadows or glare). $7k is a great price for that house!

Area like Cupertino,Los Gatos to Stanford is just a shadow of the American economy where tech titans is just moving from one zip code to another zip code in one geographical area (like apple in cupertino to nvidia in santa clara), these companies make real estate skyrockets although, in term of statistic, the population is decreasing by a lot.