The mortgage was just issued in September 2023.

This can add to your expenses, but can also help streamline the management process and increase the overall value of the property.Additionally, larger apartment buildings may come with more regulatory requirements and tenant issues to navigate.

If you wish to get licensed in every state to act as a lender, go ahead but the cost to do that is extraordinary so you would need to spend money on that and getting proper insurance since you are essentially issuing a mortgage. 

I thought it would depend on bank appetite but I've heard back that vacancy isn't an issue so long as the property is self sustaining as is.I think there's a fine line between filling an open spot and resurrecting a dying center though.

With 5-10% down or an FHA 203k loan, you will still run into the issue of not adding enough equity to do a cash-out.

A common source of Subject To deals is people in distress (foreclosure) who have a pending sale date.

Inflation seems to be an almost universal-economic issue at the moment, and premium housing has always been in demand.

They're running into issues with potential refinancing. 

I have been in the ringer through real estate investing (negative cash flow, scammers, bad contractor, obtaining more than ARV, getting less than ARV, plumbing issues, positive cash flow) learning head-first the whole way.

And its very common these days if your putting minimum down which it sounds like you did to have negative cash flow the first few years..