Even though we live in earthquake country, this was a new experience for us.

Your best option may be to increase the rent to cover the additional expense.

Also, if a few hundred dollars in draw fees will make your deal go sideways, it may not be the best deal for you, especially as you are just getting started.I'm happy to share my experience as an investor and a mortgage broker.

Maintenance/cap ex, insurance, if a rental PM, bookkeeping, misc.The fact you have a loan means 1) leverage 2) equity pay down.In addition, there are tax benefits.So I will do some rough underwriting as an OO non-rental at 95% LTV (because FHA has some undesired consequences that make the 1.5% difference in LTV worth avoiding the FHA).equity paydown: 20% (using OP interest rate at 95% LTV and not counting closing costs). 

I wanted to help them out and minimize their loss and saw an opportunity to get a property slightly below market because of my commission savings, immediate mortgage and maintenance relief, in addition to keeping a lower short term interest rate How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

However what happens when the tenant vacates and now the unit has to be turned over/takes a few months to find a new tenant and during that same period of time the sewer line goes and you get hit with that $15,000 cap ex expense in addition to the vacancy and turn over costs.

Big expense up front, additional expenses over the life of the lock, they can be too complicated for renters to figure out, and they don't solve all the problems a landlord may face.

Instead of losing 55k they will probably only end up losing $25,000 - $30,000Long term its not a great cash flow property but with some renovations and addition of a parking slab I think long term appreciation is the big goal here.

Additionally, we are approved with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

I have no experience with command strips.