Assuming your property is in California, state law afford you the right to enter your property to show to prospective Tenants.

Also, many people really don’t understand financing so have wildly outrageous ideas of how much house they can afford.

If a tenant loses his (or her) job and can't pay the rent, I will tell him to pay me what he can afford, and the remainder for that month will be forgiven. 

Because anyone who can afford $2k rent can EASILY afford a $160k home.A few other points about your analysis:How are you financing the renovation?

My concern is I'd have a job up until I sign for the loan and then I lose it after and can't afford the mortgage.

Currently, I can afford a 50% reduction of rent for probably 4 months.

I don't know if the banks would be able to afford just postponing mortgage payments without any compensation, or if they did they might not lend as much and just make things worse.

Ultimately, I'd encourage you to know what rights you have, but also work with your tenants to the extent that you can afford to in hopes that you can come up with a win-win solution. 

You might also have to commute further and rent somewhere cheaper to reach your goals, you decide what you can live with.How I started, I looked on zillow and looked at what I could afford.

I'm going to be investing out of state because the prices in Northern Virginia are more than she can afford.