I have great credit, but I would like to avoid shortterm debt costs.I realize that I would loose income by delaying the renovation, but it is often hard to find good tenants in winter anyway.

That have, at best, a loose relationship with the actual value. 

What I say is around the lines of  "you may be aware of not but the the county has listed your property for a tax sale, you can still avoid the tax sale if you pay the taxes before the deadline but if you rather just sale this property, I would like to have the opportunity to buy it from you".I have also considered using the line "I'll buy it from you before you loose it to the tax sale" but I decided against it as it is deceptive and could be seen that way.  

Yes I may loose it, but ive heard of them extending 5x. 

so there is a good amount of risk in this plan to loose the house entirely.On the other hand your friend the lender could end up with the property as an REO and then re-deed it back to you. 

My name is Rob I’m from Warren Ohio and I’m currently loosely looking for my first property.

Loose doorknobs and faucets add up.For Multi-families in Boston and Cambridge, I view an inspection contingency as a red flag.

.- With ~18K for expenses and ~63K of income, that works out to ~29%; extremely unlikely (to the point that I would buy a lottery ticket first - at least I would know what I am going to loose ;).

My wife and I started our real estate investing journey around 7 years ago during the real estate down turn when we were unable to sell our first house without loosing money, so we decided to keep it and rent it out. 

Other one was electrical work , where The loose breakers were checked and wiring was adjusted and validated if appliances are working.