4) We always perform a drive thru or google street view to observe the exterior buildings and grounds.

If you observe filth and/or damage to the property, then you can (and should) deny them based on THAT reason and forget about the animal entirely.2) There is almost always a legit reason to reject an application, unless you're renting to well-qualified tenants in the B or A range. 

However, living in San Luis Obispo and observing the market here on the Central Coast has peaked my interest into seller financing, specifically with the high ratio of retirees that are present here.  

On the basis of observations in previous crisis situations and recent consumer surveys, changes in spending patterns will particularly affect fashion, take-away, travel/holidays, and replacement purchases.

@Jill F.Thanks JillI know for sure a tenant can bring in bed bugs but was not too sure about mice/rats, hence the post.As of now it's just a speculation a mice or rat may have entered,because we observed a torn bag of flour which was kept outside the apartment.

Try to schedule meetings with them at the property and observe how much time they put into covering all aspects of the job.

Would you recommend to take a drive around the property with listened contractor to get a better understanding of what I am getting myself into; reasoning behind that is that some of the big cap expenses can be observed from the outside. 

We then give them a week to let us know if they want to accept our offer, and if they don't we let them know we'll be sharing our observations with the local PD.

You also have to factor in a lot of uncertainty in the economy and the real estate market over the next couple of years, so these numbers look really tight (but this observation is admittedly very market-specific; this could be a great deal in some markets, and a terrible deal in others).None of this means it's a no-go, only you can decide that based on your personal goals, financial situation, and knowledge of the market.This may help as well: https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/6405/80732-5-simple-formulas-every-buy-and-hold-investor-needs-to-know

I think in our HOA though, unfortunately, they won't allow it - every unit I've observed in our community has the same exact front door.As far as when to rehab, if we were to do the flooring and painting, is that something we ought to consider doing *after* renting it out?