The general rule (and there are exceptions in certain jurisdictions) is that subsequent remedial measures can't be used against you.

Or would you just subsequently use your equity in the next investment and keep using your equities from your last purchase?

I'm very intentional in my selection, aggregation and subsequent filtering. 

If it makes sense and is less of a loss with a short sale than the lender would receive in a foreclosure sale and subsequent resale, they would usually proceed with accepting a short sale.

The *supervisor* was unreachable, as I only got a recording when calling the business.Also see online that the LLC was suspended 5 years ago, but subsequent Statements of Information were filed with Secty of State.Would checking his personal bank statements be sufficient to verify income?

If it is silent on this issue, use this as a learning opportunity and add it to subsequent iterations.I suppose you could try and collect damages from the tenant, but I feel like that would be very difficult to prove. 

I had the rental managed thru Long & Foster Property Management and subsequently sold the rental in 2019.

Obviously the 20% is a better option without considering a subsequent investment, however you need to factor in how long it will take you to save the 8K again and how much those delays will cost you (in hypothetical lost profits).

I am currently going through this with my personal residence that we flipped and the subsequent lot attached to the property. 

Investors who flip properties concentrate on the purchase and subsequent resale of one property, or a group of properties.