I have found a solution that should alleviate this huge surprise and thus making the best out of this sticky situation LOL Thanks again to ALL who responded/messaged me :)Originally posted by Adam B.

Hiring a General Contractor will alleviate most of your issues because he will do the planning and hand holding.  

Plus what was already mentioned, this way you can verify (with paid invoices & lien releases signed as proof) that each contractor was paid as agreed, in writing to help alleviate any mechanic's liens (I have stories about those too).

You are only able to utilize 75% of this income however if you are buying a property with alot of cash flow this can help alleviate some of the pressure on your DTI

It’s a small price to pay to alleviate this “pain and suffering”. 

Your plan is to alleviate your mortgage by mixing it with your alimony payment? 

I'm not betting on it, but I also think this area is growing as it's close to a lot of business and tourist investment and Florida just approved $$ to renovate local state parks (walking distance to a tourist attraction).Last, my W2 pay is solid and ~ $8300 a month, but I get stock vestments 2x a year, so in November I'm set to receive ~$40-45K more after taxes which will alleviate any reserves concerns.My biggest questions is what to do if I run into problems with the loan, if they are worried about the reserves post DP and closing costs.

Being taxed on what you net alleviates alot of the worries I originally had.

It alleviates the burden on you.

In addition to someone who is writing bad checks, it alleviates other annoying things like picking up/depositing a rent check, "it got lost in the mail," etc.