In any area with any type of rent control make sure the current tenant is paying close to market rent or you might not be able to raise rent enough to ever catch-up.

At that point you control the costs, style, layout.

If staying alive is more important than earning a few bucks, I recommend you sell the investment property and purchase a single-family home or a duplex with totally separate spaces so you can control your environment.

Can anyone offer any advice on how you control your spending and keeping a budget?

"As is" means precisely nothing in terms of obligation of the buyer; it is usually an attempt to signal the seller will not make changes, do repairs etc, but when faced with someone walking away from a purchase, they still have the choice to change their mind and do so.

@Nathan G.For reasons beyond my control, I was evicted from a home.

We have statewide rent control with eviction preventions.

Considering the FED cannot really control interest rates and at best can control the short end of the curve it would seem to me that Jay Powell would be in a position where he cannot raise rates. 

It is crazy expensive here with no signs of slowing down (SD appreciates 6.94% per year on average which is higher than the majority of markets around the country).I personally like the idea of purchasing a low down payment personal residence as a first investment, that way you have more control of what happens.

This would allow us better margins and more control.