@Jenae Young General contractors aren't licensed in Texas.

While our techniques aren't flashy or sophisticated, they are effective.

Getting a co-signer would be difficult for me, personally, because none of my family members think REI is a good idea (who has family members, who aren‘t also Investors, that do?)

I don't know the details on this yet, but suffice it to say the tenants of this property aren't going to make any part of this process easy for anyone.

For me, those questions aren't the things I'm going to be looking at.  

They aren't big places and don't have extra space so my options are a tank heater outside in a shed or a tankless.   

If you aren't married it's 250k.Look up section IRS section 121.This better and easier than a 1031, however 1031 is for a investment property (that you don't live in as primary residence) because section 121 doesn't apply there.

If they have an issue with providing it they you have to ask yourself, "why aren't they providing it?"

The moratorium you are referring to might be that they aren't raising their maximums for different unit types.Your justification for raising the rents needs to be that what they are currently paying isn't in-line with comparable units...they don't care about your expenses or that taxes have gone up, they care that what they are paying is comparable to the rest of your immediate market, and under the maximum limit.

Buffering by $1k onto that to ensure you aren't short cash to close at the last minute isn't crazy at all.