I believed I was putting that hard-earned money into something secure.

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).

@Chris Seveney @Nathan Gesner The owners offered to cancel their lease and return their security deposit in full.

Assuming plans are needed to secure a permit.

What I love about them is they will even accept the higher lease amounts over the market rents if we can show first month's rent and security deposit.

Non-recourse has less personal exposure, but you need a very strong balance sheet to secure this without bringing in a KP.

They need a contract with email addresses and social security numbers to provide the amount.

So, your focus may need to pivot from high rental cash flow to little to no cash flow as a rental with an appreciation upside.I would recommend taking your $150K to $200K and securing a solid equity position in something that will cover its expenses and maybe provide a small cash flow, but then is poised to appreciate nicely over the course of the next several years. 

Securing financing is often one of the biggest challenges new real estate investors face.

I position my inspections as 'planning for future repairs/improvements' which mitigates that whole 'he's here to get my security deposit' mindset.And, I would rather have the tenant with me than to have him later claim that something was broken during the inspection.