And secondly, if you were in my shoes would you walk away or continue to proceed with the purchase - if continuing with the purchase, what should the next steps be?

My favorite quote of all time- "Don't take advice from someone you wouldn't trade shoes with."

The vanity, which i picked up from home depot, was the option i went with only because I had "tried to put myself in my potential tentant's shoes" and thought that with the small size of the bathroom and no medicine cabinet where would my tenants put their bath things and would the rental be less appealing without any real bath storage.

Put the shoe on the other foot, you worked hard to own property that you care for and a renter is now subleasing without your permission. 

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

If I was in your shoes, I would start going through the Biggerpockets podcast and webinar archive and finding episodes that our geared towards beginners and the tips for networking, building a core group of contacts, and learning the fundamentals of finding and analyzing deals. 

If I were in your shoes, I would dig deep into the numbers and try to understand how the asset can reasonably perform in your market.

If you were in their shoes, you would be trusting the past landlord's reference and wouldn't want to end up with a bad tenant. 

if you guys in my shoes what do you choose and why!!??

In your shoes, post notice on the door and take a photo with your phone (timestamp proof) and also leave a message on their voicemail, indicating your intent to enter to do roof work at XX time on XX day.