Investment companies with more than 3-4 owners could raise flags with the CRA and provincial securities regulators.  

Issue can include land locked vacant lots, condemned or demolished houses, other government liens popping up, flood damage, fire, etc.  

The best recommendation I can give you, is to either call every bank around (since each bank's money is governed differently by their board of directors each bank's portfolio loan will be slightly different) maybe you'll find a loan with better terms at a different bank  OR  go the conventional route and quit claim that bad boy.  

The zoning is now a very workable issue if you do it right thank to some (sigh) more government regulations on Fair Housing.

Apparently, since the crash, the government made some rules about how much lenders could charge in relation to the total loan amount.

What kind of pitfalls should I look out for, for the greater Seattle area (I'm mostly looking at the north Bothell, Everett, Lynwood areas), and specifically in terms of laws and regulations that could catch me off guard?

That inspection was to Certify it passes regulations/building code for Owner Occupancy.

Your government policies are highly inflationary, additionally real estate has been on a long climb since 2008 so we are likely near a peek.

The government is coming for all your assets and then what ?

The IRS recently passed a regulation that a minimum interest payment has to be charged.