If major CEQA processing is required, such as a full Environmental Impact Report, hire and manage an environmental consulting company for the production of the EIR and all necessary CEQA documents required for the completion of the environmental review.

As far as asking for damages, you would need to review your contract and any attorney modification letters. 

Also browse your local market online and by driving around to learn about neighborhoods, home values, etc.

Add on insurance ($130 according to Realtor.com) and property taxes ($340/month per this online calculator) and you're at $3,105. 

So should I cough up that cash for the piece of having a solid lease from an attorney or can I save that hard earned money and just use the best one I find online?

in so cal it would be RARE to have a lawyer involved in this transaction @David Weintraub  we are a title and escrow stateso take out the 1k  and the two addition doc review fee's 750 and 795  those are straight to the lender for his profit side.other than that fee's are fairly standard..

If the hvac, plumbing, electric and structural work is already done, you can apply for everything else under a repair/replace permit which doesn't require an architect or plan review.

Suggest you review your contracts with a lawyer.

Reviews go a long way.If this is a rental, are you going to charge a monthly access fee for the solar in addition to rent, and let them handle the utility bill, or are you going to cover all utilities?

If you start working with an account they should be able to put you on their wholesale plan and save you a little money if you buy the online version of Quickbooks.