Then turn the judgment over to a collection agency and walk away because you'll probably never see a dime.

I had barely enough for a 15% down and closing costs but not a dime more lol.

If you spend every dime just to get the deal, the entire thing could fall apart when you get hit with a major expense.

Is this appropriate or customary or am I just nickel and diming?

Before I spend a dime, or lose a day, on inspection of someone else's property, I'd like to see a TDS. 

There is no nickle and dime negotiating inspection items in our market and sellers report showed no major issues.

Odds are you will never collect a dime, but it only takes 30 minutes to turn them over to collections and you may get something out of it.At a minimum, it will sit on their credit report and may prevent other Landlords from making the same mistake.

LIke with my new construction.. we submit for draws and lender funds then WE pay we never have to front a dime. do check that out as well..

The trick is... if you hire a PM MAKE CERTAIN they're good - honest, knowledgeable, responsive, driven....And make certain you 100% know how their fees work - some PMs will nickel and dime you beyond the set % they charge while others are less greedy. 

Here’s another way to do it which we have done, when the tenant is on vacation, go in there and rehab it - this way your fixing up the property on their dime.