If it is only one flip for now, I suggest you find a CPA just to advise you on State filing requirements, ensure you are claiming all write-offs and issuing 1099s, etc.

Both told me the apartment floods so bad amongst other issues.

I have not every purchased property in Canada, but my wife is Canadian and I've seen some of the issues her family has had to deal with.  

There i a bit of research that needs to be completed early on in order to get a good judgement on the feasibility of this; from there, the "Official" way to ensure you could pursue this would be to request a "Zoning Opinion Letter" to receive an Official decision from the Department of Zoning in order to ensure this will not cause any issues during your permit review. 

If you can find practice tests, that is my recommendation - that is what I did after taking the required time component and did not have any issues passing the test. 

This is in large part a neighbor to neighbor issue.

The app had its own issues.

That will be an issue if you change it to try and make it contingent on financing.

There's a good chance the issue(s) you face has already been discussed and answered.Ask questions in the appropriate forum.

It is hard to respond to this without fully understanding the issue and missing pertinent information such as what market etc.