It's there to prevent hiding behind LLCs for shady reasons, including tax evasion.

However, when we first visited prior to going live, we found that we had significantly more furniture / decorating upgrades and some cosmetic maintenance that weren’t in our original estimates.

Even if you have to pay more for the purchase think about the costs of carrying the real estate while waiting for the approvals  (debt service, property taxes, insurance, maintenance for the in-place tenant) and the additonal finance charges associated with originating an acquisiton/bridge loan and then a construciton loan at a later date. 

The co-op is the one selling it since the original owner didn't pay their taxes the co-op became owners.

I’m reluctant to allow a potential tenant to enter the home unsupervised prior to signing a lease.

I am the one who closes the sale typically so expectations and the process is thoroughly explained by me prior to onboarding beginning.Client red-flags are those who critique the processes before even beginning, those who want exceptions for every process, think they know how to do the job better than I do, etc. 

On top of that, there's a bill working it's way through the state to add an additional sales tax on real estate.

That means no Capital Gains, which means tax free.

Two (2) parcels in a manufactured home area, acquired through tax deeds and sold on open market with owner financing.A 2/2 condo acquired from the Forclosure action on the courthouse steps.A senior community 1/1 condo from a wholesaler.A senior community 3/2 SFR also form a wholesaler.All have proven to be profitable.

We would net $94k which is about what we put in.If we rent then our property taxes go up substantially and our total monthly cost jumps from $2900 to $3300 (PITA).