A key lesson was the importance of balancing renovation costs with market expectations.

As a business, a judge will expect YOU to know all the laws and legal procedures.Make a minor mistake and the judge is unlikely to give you a break and may rule in the tenant's favor.The judge will see the tenant as a consumer and may give them a lot of leeway in court, even give them borderline legal advice.You are in over your head, not having the knowledge to properly handle this.

With different municipalities I am expecting this to be a bit more lengthy for us. 

In a city like Philly, you will face many challenges - you need to learn the market and know the neighborhood and the block and make sure all of your numbers are within reason, you need very reliable contractors, you need a to understand the permit process, you need to be familiar with market expectations. 

@David YoungRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

This can provide a benchmark for the appraiser and support your expected value.Be Present During the Appraisal: If possible, be there to answer any questions the appraiser might have and to point out the improvements you've made.

(Not a lawyer so this is not legal advice) You've listed all the reasons why people fire property managers, it sounds like they've just done a poor job of meeting your expectations. 

I'd expect prices to continue to appreciate, so the longer you delay, the more expensive things may be. 

Setting clear expectations can help you pretty much everywhere as well.

.), I'd recommend that the residential units fully cash flow the loan as my experience is that mixed use properties are tougher to finance as most lenders tend to prefer one or the other and something in the middle gets more difficult.For example, and granted I don't know anything about the area/neighborhood, I would expect this property (https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/111-NW-Har...) to be easier to finance than the mixed-use property you mentioned.