Well, if you don’t have a Lender Approved Contractor under contract for a price that falls within the appraisal, and they filled out the proper lender forms, you will Not be approved for the loan.....end of story.  

Make sure you have the tenants sign the proper legal documents turning over possession of the unit to you and that they hand you the keys before you give them the cash! 

They were not prepped and painted properly by the previous owner and they look awful.

Make sure to install a good vapor barrier, and have proper ventilation and you should be ok.

IF they don't, they force you to make conservative assumptions (e.g. expenses, capex, vacancy, etc.) and you end up putting in a lower offer.Another tactic / strategy is to simply give him his price (with the proper out clauses), get the information and then re-negotiate the price.

If your goal is to generate passive returns, real estate (done properly) may not be the right vehicle. 

.#1 thing I see landlords get wrong is Schedule E box 2, "Fair Rental Days."

I would contact an attorney that specializes in evictions or find a and handle this legally and properly.

And even pre-approvals must be worded properly and followed up with the appropriate changes to the Financing Addendum so that what happened to you this time won't happen again.

Anyway, I am trying to maximize returns and run things better now that I am setup as a real business tracking everything to the penny, following proper LLC safeties, and added 4 more units, etc.