Because of where interest rates are at—and how slow everything is moving—we basically made a "take it or leave it" deal.

The information contained in this post is not to be relied upon.

I want to purchase my second property within 4-6 months of moving into my multifamily house hack, but looking for a guidance on the strategy to do so.

I would just over disclose on this and move on. 

There are a lot of affordable properties in Knoxville, but the growth isn't terribly vibrant and the deman isn't what you'd expect for a city of that size and that close to the Smokies - you're mostly looking at college rentals for the meat of the move season, and the SF market, while it exists, doesn't really compare to Chattanooga. 

And I have tenants that make multiple small payments every month because after they’ve moved in they’ve had their finances screwed up from what they were when I screened them.

You may want to move on it sooner rather than later.

If you ask the manager to justify a fee and he starts hemming and hawing, move on or require them to remove the fee.

Also we are scheduling some consultation with lenders. what are the questions to ask the lender and also how to choose a good lender for investment properties moving forward ?

Courts move super slow.