I will not be living in this home.My thoughts;Put myself on the title now, then wait the seasoning period.

All agent needs to know is price, close date, inspection period, any other contingencies, financing with POF, EMD, there might be some other small details but these are the main ones

I have also not seen any patrons going into the restaurant next door over a 10 minute period.  

If you have evidence that they knew about the termites for a long period of time and failed to report it, then you could charge them.

I personally know this landlord and have had sit-down conversations with him periodically over the last few years. 

If a tenant is breaking their lease to leave, we will work with them, but we make them cover the gap period between tenants as "still their responsibility" - and we let them know we are really good to get the unit filled quickly - so it is a joint effort to save the tenant money, and to fill the unit quickly.All the best!

Are there institutions with better terms like longer payoff period, interest only, no minimum draw, or something else I'm not thinking of? 

Also, it sounds like, in the end, the only way to really, truly qualify is to self-manage-- Period. 

Juries side with the “victim” against the investor, so always go with a bench trial.

Just learn how to hit singles and doubles consistently over a long period of time.