It's all a best guess but hopefully some guesses are educated while others aren't. 

(The program is Healthy Neighborhoods Program).I guess my question is .. being that I would like to get into investing ASAP and i feel like this would be a great small step , are there any more options out there that would be more optimal for my situation (hard money lender, other programs, better routes)? 

If you did that, my guess is you'd end up right back in debt within a year because you're not addressing the underlying problem (poor money management & living beyond your means). 

By going over every single what if with an attorney, it takes the second-guessing out of who's responsible for what when problems inevitably happen and what each person role specifically is.

They will only do an inspection after you have interest from a prospective S-8 tenant - and since it's free, I guess that makes sense.

I guess what I am curious from you, BP, are the following things.

So if you want to take out a wall, the contractor can only use an educated guess as to what is in that wall.

My guess is that it is vacant ask if you have his permission to enter as long as you leave it secure when you are done. 

I guess the sellers have already fixed the roof of the home, which John and his wife had requested (I believe the roof cost was $5k).

i would guess 1/2 of the benefits used to promote Muti-family are bogus in the sense they are no different than SFHs.