It appears they are keen to foreclose.

If the Building Department doesn't seem too keen on addressing the issue speak to your local City Councillor and, if necessary, the Mayor's office. 

She was not keen on the idea until she seen the numbers. 

Some will be keen to do it for free but some charge as well. 2.

yes  get a home inspection that you pay for if your not keen on knowing whats going one when you walk through them.

I doubt it would work in Beverly unless I can find something off-market or I put in an offer sight unseen with no inspection... which I'm not keen to do@Michael Wallimann If I find a 4plex around here I'll probably have to keep it because there are so few haha! 

I can’t afford anything in the NY Metro Area at the moment, so I’m exploring areas in:my home state of Vermont (Southern VT mainly)Keene, NYPittsburgh, PA where my brother livesKingston, NY (Upstate NY area/Catskills)North Adams, MA (college town)I’m trying to stick to areas I have some ties to since it will most likely be an out-of-state situation with a property manager.My goal is to buy a 2-4 unit property that is in decent shape, rent the units, and have one unit for myself to come to when I want to get away from NYC.I’ve been running numbers on both the rental property calculator and the BRRRR calculator with varying results.

I am not keen on Texas personally because of prop tax's and weather related issues. and foundation issues.. other than the sun beating on Vegas homes they hold up pretty well. 

If your more keen on the investment side go that route.. its harder but man you stick it out get a clientele base and you can do quite well  quite well.

I know you're not keen on refinancing since you don't want to lose your current rate and you're likely not at the 80% LTV mark, but this path would free up your options and enable you to acquire another multi-family home sooner than saving up 15% down for HomeReady.Also, your current FHA rate of 3.750% will come with life of loan mortgage insurance of .850%.