Optionee has paid 50+ late payments, essentially ruining the owners credit.

even a highly experienced contractor would be guessing ...you have to plan for worst case and that would be shoddy design and or construction ...this is usually the tip of the iceberg ...making everything in the house suspect... know when to say when ...if you are not good with power tools it's a walk... don't ruin your free time with frustration,  I'd buy new or one with potential with 203k money can make like new.  

Since it's (almost) a done deal, you need to be happy, I don't wanna ruin it for you :) lol.. no, j/k, it doesn't look bad.

So getting my feet wet was pretty easy knowing I could cover 100% failure without financial ruin. 

Your local laws may or may not define the useful life of many things in your condo and force you to pro-rate any charges to the tenant.For example, if you have brand new carpeting when the tenant moves in, but it's ruined by pet stains and has to be replaced when they move out two years later, you will only be able to charge them 5/7ths of the actual cost if your laws dictate that the useful life of carpet is 7 years.

unless the prospective or current tenant presented with a medical qualification for a service/therapy type dog in a 4 or more unit building if i read correctly.would u allow dogs to ruin ur newly installed (but delicate) laminate floors?

That sounds really shady to me, but shady perfectly describes her father so I suspect he did something underhanded with that policy to ruin it. 

Cowfish would ruin my cashflow!

Then the repairman was having a hard time getting the receipt to him as the repairman's wife was in the final stages of cancer.

I've come to realize that it's best to make the decision up front to be patient with the process because rushing through it could ruin your efforts to get rid of the smell.