Spent the day yesterday with Tanner and Tim (See #E below) doing some serious cleanout of previous owner's stuff and prep on my next project in San Diego. 

It gives you some experience (I am not sure if this is your first acquisition or not).The length of the lease of that particular tenant may not matter to me if I can verify if there was someone there prior and for how long that previous tenant had occupied the unit.

The previous owner said neither he nor I would be responsible for the security deposits given to the previous owner before him as these tenants have been in their units for many years. 

First off, I would send a nasty letter to your previous lender...and their supervisors...for costing you significant money because of their incompetence.A couple of things to consider:-the refi will also cost you closing costs again in the $1000s. 

I was listening to NPR about a study about female college grads.

My advice has been previously said by both people above.It's hard to tell you what you are comfortable with.

As the previous poster said, it I do think it will take a long time before Stewartville is a suburb of Rochester, but things are clearly moving in that direction. 

Bathrooms, toilet rooms, closets, halls, storage or utility spaces and similar areas are not considered habitable spaces.Habitable space requirementsCeiling height-RequirementsR305.1 Minimum height.Habitable space, hallways, bathrooms, toilet rooms, laundry rooms and portions of basements containing these spaces shall have a ceiling height of not less than 7 feet (2134 mm).Exceptions:1.For rooms with sloped ceilings, at least 50 percent of the required floor area of the room must have a ceiling height of at least 7 feet (2134 mm) and no portion of the required floor area may have a ceiling height of less than 5 feet (1524 mm).R304.4 Height effect on room area.Portions of a room with a sloping ceiling measuring less than 5 feet (1524 mm) or a furred ceiling measuring less than 7 feet (2134 mm) from the finished floor to the finished ceiling shall not be considered as contributing to the minimum required habitable area for that room.Floor space- RequirementsR304.1 Minimum area.Every dwelling unit shall have at least one habitable room that shall have not less than 120 square feet (11 m2) of gross floor area.R304.2 Other rooms.

My current place and right out of college in Albany, NY I bought a duplex. 

My advise was for someone who isjust starting out, has no previous deals, little equity.