I did add a little when they uncovered some unplanned repairs (approximately $500 additional).  

The fact that they are already "lawyering" before the lease is signed about unplanned, purely hypothetical situations, is a sign of things to come. 1.

Squirrels are known to gather nuts before the Winter so they obviously have an instinctive advantage for those that don't.I also taught REI from approximately 2005 to 2013.

We Energies ended up paying for about half of the cost, but it was still almost $1000.I was not too happy about the unplanned expense, until I spoke with one of my neighbors on th street.

Until you know for sure it's only mice, consider that other pests could have penetrated the attic too... rats, bats, squirrels, possums, etc.

Pooling reserves makes sense, just make sure you have enough to cover anything unplanned and that you don't get too thin.  

If you want to be even more clear, we can eliminate the language of debt: the flipper buys the thing from you at 0.02%, and sells it at 4.5% after giving it a fancy name and a coat of paint.It's still worth keeping a healthy emergency fund squirreled away somewhere semi-liquid, like a savings account or CD, of course.

Mice. rats, possum, raccoon, squirrels etc? 

However I do have several other opportunities come strolling by every now and then and being a millennial I sometimes chase the squirrels.

By "sitting this one out" I mean that I could spend the next year squirreling away capital to buy Notes and then buy some, OR I can spend the next year eliminating the vast majority of all my debt and start squirreling in 2020.A lot of people seem to subscribe to the "just do it!"