., hanging something) then just leave the plaster, do your thing, patch it and move on.If you have to disturb larger sections you run the definite risk of breaking the "keys" that hold the plaster tight to the lath, so you might find that sections start to fall down which can create a cascading/domino like effect.There are probably ways to carefully cut out sections that can reduce the chance of that happening, but like I said, the general rule is that if you're disturbing large sections you might just have to replace the whole area with drywall to be done with it.I don't have specific tips on the gas and oil changes re: RI's commitment to reduce/eliminate them.

My question is should I patch repair or plan to replace all of it?

Probably won't be cheap, but almost certainly cheaper than a surprise tax bill or missing a gap in your liability coverage.

Another week went by without a reply, so I had my agent notify the seller's agent that the tenants were non-responsive and needed to be out before we closed.A week passes, I got the clear to close, and then I received a slew of text messages and missed calls from the tenants.

I missed the duplex part.

I"m not in a place where not buying something for the next year is going to put me behind in life, but with interest rates low, inflation coming, and the shortage of houses for the near future, I feel like I'm going to miss out on stuff. 

I could tell they wanted to lip stick rehab the property and list it.That's two deals in two weeks missed out on because of price.

In my limited experience with them, they can be hit or miss.

What am I missing?

I would vent the attic (which should have been done already), scrape and peel all paint off, patch the issues and use a thick peeling paint primer like Zinsser.