100 dollars per month of savings will be a slow route towards buy RE the conventional way if that is the route you plan on utilizing. 

Work hasn't been this slow for me in over 15 years.

You ned to get a thorough, detailed and itemized cost estimate with draw schedule form the contractors.Do not pay in advance for anything.

You probably don't have a lot of options here because if you gave him notice to vacate now you might already be in the slow season by the time he gets out of the unit. 

Just fyi, I love this historic condo, but slowing down and tired of the renting hassle.

Anything in your investing now that is slowing you down we could potentially help one another with? 

As for the credit option, I was told I couldn’t use a credit card for any part of the financing (unless I withdrew cash, put in personal account and waited two months for seasoning - but the interest rate / fees for withdrawing cash from my cc would be pretty high if I did that).

There is a duplex near me in an excellent location that has dropped in price like 35% in the last 4 months after slow drops for a year.

I think my slow start is in trying to find properties without spending too much money.

See what you can work out by working together and take it slow.