You go to a sale ready for action, you look around and see numerous large farmers that are double digit millionaires standing around talking to each other, (because they don't seriously acknowledge any "little" guys in the room.  

Give them factual numbers from your side and fair explanations as to why you have your numbers - they obviously understand you need to make a profit - and if you set your parameters concretely they will understand.

This is a new tenant - he's only been there a week but has complained about numerous items already.

But we shouldn't speculate on that here since the OP had the title search performed - whoever did that research should be able to offer an explanation about the IRS lien standing. 

I was more than a little surprised at how they do things and I'm trying to figure out if it's because of some silly regulation, some silly local custom, or if there really is an explanation out there that actually does make sense. 

When you do un-permitted work you can be req'd to return it to the prior condition, and more importantly when you have to return it you have to meet today's code....and the reason for the lengthy explanation above....if you get caught they can decide that you have to meet today's parking code and as such can now only have 3 units not 4/6.Not saying that's what would happen, but it's kind of worst case scenario.

She was very quick to get back to me and we have been out numerous times to see properties. 

A complete explanation of the service is described here: https://www.chase.com/online-banking/quickpayIn a nutshell, both the tenant and property owner set up a Quickpay account.

There will of course be mortgage insurance however you can get rid of this by paying through the rate in a one time payment call "single premium," so there will be no monthly mortgage insurance.So in this explanation it would be better to refinance the property into conventional prior to converting it to a rental to free up your FHA qualification capability by using a 95% conventional loan if its a single family residence that you'll be converting to a rental soon.

@Mark SThank you, your explanation was very helpful just wanted some understanding.Thanks everyone for your help.