We did some digging and just confirmed that the lien is for state income taxes levied while the cosigner wasn't living in the state and is in the process of being taken off the credit report, so it seems that it is a non-issue.  

You'll typically have less expenses and less need for a capital reserve with a condo, or an HOA.

Hey Ethan,That's great to hear confirmation from a CPA on it... very savvy! 

I feel as though it would be my loss for not doing my due diligence and confirming that the rent amount quoted by the PM was an accurate amount. 

It took my wife and I about 1 year to save up 10K and we have 6K in a reserve emergency fund. 

I do have one reservation about 50% bleach/water.  

Then I asked about a broken picket fence that I could fix to confirm to fix it or not, he answered indirectly which basically meant yeah, I'll do that whether you consent or not.

I have cash reserves as an insurance policy.  

I would like to keep the small reserve fund that I have, so I would like to pursue some creative financing methods such as lease option, seller financing etc.  

I own my home which has 80,000 in equity and I have 20000 in cash reserve on top of the 120000.