Get your finances in order. create a budgetmake a lifestyle change.stop eating outprepare batch mealsget rid of cable/netflix/hulumake a plan/goalstick to itstart 'driving for dollars'listen to this podcast - https://www.biggerpockets.com/show77try to find a house that you can buy with seller financingor try to wholesale it if you can'tcheck out this podcast for that https://www.biggerpockets.com/show176eat more tacos. this usually motivates me. :)Thoughts?

I had a couple that got one and it managed to eat the plug off a window air conditioner, the quarter round in the bedroom and my front porch swing,   Also tore up the shrubbery in the raised bed in the front because, of course, the dirt was nice to dig into during the hot summer months.Since then, no puppies!

Regarding the meals, if you were driving in town (not on travel), and just eating out while looking it properties, the answer would be as you stated: no. 

If they don't have much in their balance, they may have to raise the monthly fee soon which would eat into your monthly cash flow.I've never invested in a condo, so some of the things I don't know that you may want to look into:  If your upstairs neighbor has a leak that leaks into your unit, who's responsible for the repair?

Once it's ready, i'll probably put it up for 600 or so, because I've got to pay all the electric bill, and eating even a heat bill from a small apartment in wyoming in the winter is not my idea of a good time.All the while, the contractor that i've gotten is working on the next empty, and it should be done this week. it's looking really, really good.

It seems like a lot of houses have deferred maintenance that will eat up much of your cash flow in the first couple of years.Good luck to you!!!

It can never hurt to be sure you're setting aside enough for future events (especially if this is a SFH) and one month of vacancy could eat up several months of your cash flow.  

Only to reduce the cost of their $22,000 mistake by $2,200, and I expect them to try to recoup that in later CO'sAt this point I think they should eat at least half of the Unapproved CO's, but their lack on communication and delay tactics are making the legal route look ominous.Any other advice or guidance on how to proceed?

Is that going to eat up all of your rental income and leave you high and dry when you need to pay the bills?

Maybe I can't have my cake and eat it too (i.e., suck it up buttercup and get a commercial/portfolio loan), but I'm going to at least try first!!!