Many here are okay with illegal units because "everyone is doing it around me" and that going along with the herd mentality will get you in trouble long term in my opinion.  

"Wow I guess that explains your mentality.

So my question is there any recourse that would allow the state code enforcement or health code department to come in and take over the property

As an example, In AK, those general commercial loan requirements are:Cap rate of 8% or higherDSCR of 1.25 or higher Two years Schedule C tax returns of property.Inspection with all health and life safety either repaired or escrowed for repairs to be completed within 6 months.20% down with seasoned funds (in your account for over 90 days).Credit score of 620-640 or above.Obviously there are other minor underwriting guidelines depending on the funder, but commercial loans can be great.

This is why lenders are so concerned about the “health” of the overall community.

Most restaurants fail so you should be mentally prepared to have to replace it sometime in the future.

I don't want to exclude a roommate for their health or age, if it wasn't for a surgery the same month, I wouldn't have any worries about our age difference.

Sounds like you have done a lot of the mental prep work already.  

You want to approach potential sellers with a welcoming, "let me help you" kind of mentality.

Mental Block but I think it helped me to prepare for the Licensing Exams .