We bought a property in a similar fashion but we weren’t the winning bidder, we bought directly from the lady who was foreclosed on and she had a 170K 1st lien mortgage ahead of the HOA dues she was taken to court over

I think I will go ahead and give them a try.

I think a lot has to do with the property itself, if there's space for dogs and their business, and also the area and type of guests likely to visit. 

Thank you ahead of time for any advice!

I'll go ahead and warn you that house hacking is addicting and may lead to the purchase of additional properties haha. 

No offense but I think when your current property manager retires you’ll be hard pressed to find someone willing to go on the visits with you.

In this case, you should have an Architect / GC visit the space and tell you what it would take to make the basement "legal".

I can plan for this if the tenant gives me a heads up ahead of time — which they usually do — but it's annoying.

Have a nice weekend ahead!

The contractor causes injury to someone visiting the property (instpector, delivery person, etc.).