(Conventional is out since I have less than stellar credit, around 690 due to a job loss in 2010 and getting behind on bills). 

It's a loss if you account for all your expenses.

Tell them you are willing to pay for the items on the list if this gets you to closing table in two weeks; if they keep asking for things you will never get the deal closed and it's time to put it back on the market cut your losses and move on!  

Clear communication with the tenant from the beginning and a sufficient security deposit to cover your real losses is a better approach.

In the mean time request a 12t P&L broken monthly(trailing 12 month profit and loss) and a current rent roll.

Combined with the effective practical loss of some benefits, for example, that lenders may still require personal guarantees, etc..

I learned from those feasibility studies after spending lots of money and time .

What I'm trying to say is that if you make a mistake somewhere and get into a negative cash-flow situation, you will likely have to sell the thing at a loss to get out of it (if you can't fix the cash-flow problem).Many people don't consider the fact that one can actually lose money investing in real estate.  

I'm looking at a piece of land to develop an apt community and am in the weird, catch-22 stage of spending money on due diligence to determine financial feasibility.  

His answer yeah but the free drinks make up some of our losses and being in the game is exciting.