Will be talking to many contractors to validate of course, but curious if anyone here knows anything about this or has done basement dig outs in the last 6-12 months? 

In the end; they would have had to dig-down the basement in order to achieve the necessary height, and then ended up just deciding to vacate the basement and convert it to "Heat and Storage" and ended up loosing all of their rentable potential from the basement level...Most of our clients see it as too much of a risk to try to keep the existing basement floor when it is around 6'-11" - 7'-1" rough.

These are single family homes that are worth anywhere from $500k-$1.25M, rented on a long term basis to renters that are paying a lot of money so there is a standard of care that I'm expecting for myself and renters-- over what I would expect from a 1 bed / 1 bath renting for $750/month (no dig to anyone who owns these, in fact I wish I had more of these). 

You may have to dig a little to find the right one.

Don't negotiate anything new and dig yourself deeper into a hole.

OMG, now you are digging a hole.

So creditors have included debt, all debt, as a strike against one’s credit, limiting one’s ability to dig themselves into a debt grave, and yes to obtain another large loan, like a mortgage.

Keep digging for the best terms...do put good relationships ahead of strangers...and the further you go, the better you'll do. 

If Class C or D, then it may be deferred maintenance issues or tenant issues.If Class A or B properties, you should be digging deeper to find out what's going on. 

This $20k is in addition to them already digging up the line.