I asked my agent why the Sellers would downplay the property as only 1,895 sq ft and she said it looks like the current owners bought the house with the sunroom install, but could’ve later added the heating/cooling systems BUT, didn’t go to the county to get it permitted/assessed to be added as true sq footage. 

I am looking at a house close to my primary residence for around 1.8M; I plan to rent it out for the first year while I obtain permits and plans to build a larger house.

I'm only working on 2 or 3 at a time these days, and I'm basically a concierge helping these people with title work that they weren't willing to face, and I'm helping them figure out issues on houses they were going to abandon practically. 

Only issue with this is that if owner needs money, you'll likely have to come up with the difference between the loan balance and the value of the home as a down payment. 

. - so I guess I need to estimate what those would be - he is in his 70s and has uncles and aunts that lived until late 90s and one until 102 when no one did) and a comfortable retirement (he is extremely frugal so that's not an issue).

They will place them with minimal screening and they cause lots of maintenance issues and do not pay rent in time.

I think you need at least $10,000 in reserves, or bare minimum at least enough to cover a month and a half of rent, utilities, and any unforeseen maintenance issues per property.

I think this inability for buyers to come up with liquidity for down payment plus agent commission will be a near-term issue, not a long-term one.

An if they don't meet that or whatever other guidelines you put in place up front, then there should not be any issue denying applications, and maybe they don't even apply.Personally I would not make up conditions as you go.....have to treat everyone fairly.

One major caveat is the real possibility of being put out of your own home if you ever get into a domestic issue with a tenant - I know people who have ended up having to rent a hotel room while they got something worked through the court and their tenant lived in their home, because once you rent to them it becomes "their home".