When I see rust eating at welds like this I wonder how much of the problem comes from the management company (Rust never sleeps).A maintenance tech scheduled for some time with a wire brush and some Rustoleum could have saved this expensive cement tread stairway.Now it a welder (if it's salvageable) and the Rustolem, plus the cost to construct that ugly unpainted wood bridging system, and tear it down.And despite all of the drama that's going on, Mrs Kitty still has her favorite spot in the shade next to her food and water--a natural foe to garbage rats.

Or to quote Wierd Al: Just eat it?

It seems like that would eat into my margins a lot. 

It seems like nothing cash flows unless I do a STR, and decorating an Airbnb alone eats up a large chunk of my cash.

.), helping them with their bills, while also paying for a beach house STR that is not covering it's own expenses (thank God summer is on the way), and I am carrying $64k in credit card debt with interest that is eating my lunch.  

Some owner/aggregators tried to throw more tech at the process; some owner/operators didn’t care because they were building machines to only eat equity.

2) If there are liens on the property and the seller is not willing to negotiate, does that mean that either I or the buyer have to eat the cost? 

They need to be sending the info through, if not, change vendor, or have them eat the liability there conveying. 

You have a different set of circumstances than the 20 something who can couch surf and eat only ramen to get a downpayment.

@Lorien Rollins Where I live a lot of people with nicer SFHs are now listing them with Realtors to get them on the MLS and just eating the 1 mo fee as being cheaper than having it sit vacant for 3-4 months while they try to market it themselves.