Should I still follow that process or is there a more appropriate process to follow to collect the last months rent and late fee for a tenant that has abandoned the property?

Budget for the upgrades appropriately and if the numbers still work, get to work!

If you wish to give him a notice, the appropriate one to use is a 5-day notice.

It doesn't have to be an exact scenario, but maybe you just didn't have a lot of money to invest with, but a strategy that you feel is appropriate.

Cross reference with a list of 203k approved lenders by Googling "hud lender list search" and choosing "Single Family and Multifamily Servicer-Originator" and "203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program" as your search criteria.

I hope I have posted this in an appropriate category. 

Maybe there would be a real estate office where you can fill in the office and take incoming leads.See if you can work with another investor who needs help for renovation as a project manager.Mingle into a few meet up groups in real estate so that we can get some more ideas to expand the real estate operations.If appropriate; take up a full-time job and get into real estate part-time; until you have a stable income source through real estate, as a business. 

I am adding value by rehabilitating the upstairs unit and am bringing the unit to market rent (it was under by quite a bit).

My question is what would be an appropriate ‘fair’ number to start/end with?

I've been searching for my first buy for a couple months now most of the places that I've been looking at are foreclosed single families and multi families that are priced appropriately for the area.