You might consider: Consulting a Real Estate Attorney – Your emails may possibly prove misrepresentation.Requesting Public Records – A FOIA request might reveal why the city denied you but later approved the duplex.Escalating to City Officials – Bringing this to local officials could expose inconsistencies.Exploring Tax Write-Offs – A CPA might help offset your financial loss, if it is possible.I’d definitely seek legal advice.

@Jacob Riddle here's some copy & paste info you  hopefully find helpful!

As a PM, his team would be familiar with areas and could help underwrite the property and take care of the day to day headaches. 

The previous owner who was planning to make a pet hospital had some of the drawings and plan done on this old building.The previous owner also had no plans for addition or extension of the existing building since it requires zoning of a plot which is more time consuming process based on the feedback I received from county and a couple of civil engineering firms that I reached out to.I was provided the following list for civil engineering work.Pre-construction phase1.

He gave me the owner's number (Jeff) and I called him on the spot, hoping to be able to offer my services to help him find and sell more homes in the neighborhood.

This is obviously much better than $1,400 per month.On top of that, you will now get 2x the depreciation write-off so your taxes should go down.On top of that, you will now get 2x the appreciation when real estate price go up.On top of that, your tenants are helping you pay down the loan, initially at about $100/mo for both properties, which gradually gets better and better.On top of that, you now have more units so if one or two goes vacant, you have more renters covering the losses of the vacant units.If you want to keep these properties, I would do a cash-out refi and go buy more rental real estate.

It may sound nice to pay a 5% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no add-on fees.

Welcome Alana, you will find a lot of helpful people on this platform.

Yes, had to go in more detail with my answer. $5400 comes with too much risk and wear and tear on the property. 

It's easy to bite off more than you can chew in this business and that's especially not a good idea for your first deal.