Yes, what you want to do is way better than renting in the long term, I am arguing, look for a deal with bigger potential immediately, and than you will be super on top by the time you would have just broke even.

For the past month I’ve been reading real estate books (How to invest in RE, ABCs of RE, and the Millionaire RE investor), I’ve listened to countless hours of podcasts and YouTube videos, and am looking to start applying my knowledge in the next couple months. 

Reason for this, and I'd argue this is one of the most important, is that there are a lot of MF properties that have been converted back in the day.

It is up to you if small claims court is worth pursuing, but if a settlement is not offered, I think it is unlikely you win in small claims court because you have no proof and your inspector missed the items which the seller could use to argue that the problems were not obvious.Good luck

You might want to offer to buy him a hotel room and pay 1 month's rent on a storage unit.I realize he hasn't paid rent but he could be argued in court that he already paid and you were lied to a closing.Read your state and local (if any) laws.

I can take card payments from ABC and proceeds get deposited to XYZ, then pay it back to ABC (or cash back to ABC).

@NA V.Though your concerns about energy prices are certainly valid, I would argue the damage of sustained low oil prices has been absorbed at this point. 

Can offer to pay for process if need be but trying to do it after the fact could get problematic if persons claim seller made agreements with them that they argue now bound you to. 

While this is an extreme scenario, I would argue positive cash flow is not a good thing here.  

Don't argue with them, or you will lose.