I understand the safest option is to have a lawyer review the lease, but I figured I'd try to answer my beginner questions here and not waste the lawyers time (and my money) on the "for dummies" explanation.Thank you!

The gap opening is roughly a 11 ft and 6 ft high.

I feel like I can figure it out on my own.  

You don’t have to figure that out on your own.

Then connect with some hard money lenders (you can find some here on BP as well as some who are typing this right now) and connect with them to understand their product type, what they like to lend on and requirements.Hard money broker is all numbers game of making relationships and helping those that are looking for financing, it starts out slow but if you get with a few good borrowers and lenders it can be pretty decent money to be made.As an example we paid six figures last year to HM brokers. 

However, I don’t yet have the funds for a down payment on another house, and I’m trying to figure out the best option for where to live while I rent the apartment.Do you have any recommendations for managing this transition or tips on finding a temporary place to stay?

I figured using my primary equity could assist in getting that loan just to show as reserves 

On paper some of these buildings had amazing metrics, excellent cash on cash returns, cap rates, etc, but when I looked at the buildings I found the neighborhoods were rough, there was poor management in place, there was lots of deferred maintenance to address.

We lost multiple 6 figures in EMD$. 

Do some research to figure out what type of property—long-term rental (LTR) or short-term rental (STR)—best suits your goals.