Just keep your eyes on the prize and learn as much as you can as you go, take your calculated risks when you're ready, and it'll just become white noise that you can brush over. tl;dr : I hear you man.

The seller is a nice person, and I don't want leave him high and dry when he expects me to buy the property.

Initially we bought it to flip it but after renovating and marketing being dry, we decided to use it as our primary residence.  

At the same time that means to loose about 100 sqft of rec room space, so that would speak for framing right against the wall.The basement seems reasonably dry, but (not much of a surprise) the pitch outside of the braced wall is negative, which we will correct in spring.

If they move and you don't cancel, then the moving company will charge a dry run in the amount of $250.Good luck...forced moves can really suck.

I  like the 45K properties, even though they have mostly dried up around my target area in Fresno.... but I like the 100k properties more when you have cheap long term debt. 

That sounds pretty cut-and-dry, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

And if you decide owning rentals is not for you, you are not stuck with PMI and wont have to lose money to refinance to get rid of it.At the end of the day its not a cut and dry decision, many factors go into play but I would value peace of mind over the extra couple of bucks. 

I have not done anything that complex yet, but look forward to as my traditional route is drying up.  

It's not as cut and dry as that, but that's basically how the process goes.