My team wholesales, invests and lives here.

@Sandra Youkhana  It appears, you are living through what I lived through.

I finally received a demand letter from a "nonprofit attorney" representing the tenant, claiming that the tenant was living in uninhabitable conditions—typical for a non-paying tenant, I guess—and now she wants to "renegotiate" the rent and keep living in the same space.She has been filing complaints with various government departments, but all the cases were minor and have been closed.

I live in a state where this is easy and inexpensive to do.

There are different strategies to take advantage of, from live flip to acquiring units (many coming online).  

I'm not even sure what type of evidence the city needs for amnesty, since the whole garage conversion was done unpermitted/undocumented by the previous homeowners.

The plan would be to live in that property for 3-5 yrs, pay down the mortgage, then turn it into a rental.

The two years that you lived there do not need to be consecutive either.

Now today, I learned through the neighbor she currently lives next to that she hasn't kept up the house, has been problematic, and apparently had eviction notices filed by her current landlord.

I am currently living in the southwest.