Without knowing the aspects of your market, I don't know if there is enough meat on the bones for a wholesale deal at $7.19MM, and you could lose a lot of money if you don't find someone to flip it to. 

Was listed for $85k and we agreed on $79k, with an additional $3k cash back to me at closing from the seller.

We tried having people live inside the homes or buildings, but it is super annoying to have to work around their cooking equipment, food, clothing, etc. and keep moving them around the inside of the building.We find day laborers and pay them as little as $100 per week to live in a shed or in a small travel trailer outside the property.

If I let my lender know, should I expect a letter with a response (might take a long time before I get an actual answer).In my defense I did call the refi's 800 number and the agent I spoke to only said "as long as you keep paying, you're good" but, this is not making me at ease in case anything (court related) happens in the future.

The areas I am looking for to buy will put me at a 1 hr. commute from work (the closer to LA, the more expensive everything gets).  

This wasn't a purely profit driven endeavor for me at the time.

I really dont like competition on my deals. competition just drives the price up, it does nothing to help me at all. 

Had I gone about it the proper way, it would have saved me at least $5000.

Ugh, that doesn't sound great to me at all.

Lastly, I'm frugal by nature so I have no experience on how best to estimate rolling expenses of owning properties in Austin so if there are some insights on this, they would be greatly appreciated.To give this a bit more meat, let's say I'm estimating a 4 bed/2 bath duplex in East Austin.Looking forward to learning more about you and your experience :)Thank you!