Could sleep a ton. 

:-) @John Hickey John, so based on your experience of $11,000 for the 1600sqft home, perhaps mine (due to the much larger square footage) may be closer 18k :-O  Despite the cost, upgrading it would make me feel better and safe when I sleep! 

I would also not sleep on the mold issue.

We'll see as I told him the dates and times I was available to meet him (anytime I wasn't sleeping or teaching my classes, but I'd get a sub in a heart beat)!

I guess that's more proof people are being priced further and further out of Boston where I live.Regarding your question as I read it, you NEVER want to own rental real estate in your own name (I use LLCs which are expensive but I value my sleep).I am also not a fan of portfolio loans for legal and market cycle reasons.  

I did not sleep. 

One of them had people sleeping in it, so I was only able to peek into one of the bedrooms.

Stay on the right side of the law AND ethics and you will sleep better at night.IF the HA ever wanted to claw back money from you your initial post would be incriminating.If you get the applications back tell them that you cannot leave them off the lease and hopefully that will end your dilemma.  

In low income areas part of it is supply and demand; if you don't get enough applications to choose a tenant that lets you sleep at night, you have to drop rent.  

They will go and properly prep the areas so that as little lead as possible will be disturbed.