Then I will investigate remote RE investing.

These are different companies in different states, so I would think it's fairly standard practice to send homeowner the repair invoices, and it sounds like she needs to investigate further.

I posted the question and continued to investigate.

The first hill to climb is getting 7 to sign a sale contract, after that you can investigate exists as you'll probably add value just by cleaning up the title mess, guessing the seller has tried before and failed....maybe not.

Where notice of sale is not required it is on the owner to investigate the sale and request or demand amounts due.

I will definitely investigate whether it makes sense to keep a portion of the structure in order to not remove any "grandfather" of the footprint/setbacks.  

On top of that, the bank said that "We will only vet one contractor because it takes too many resources to investigate a bunch and if it doesn't work out then it's over."

I would definitely try to talk to the water department to see if they can give you a reduction and if they can investigate the cause at all.

I'm now investigating the MLS.

I would figure around $3500.I have not investigated much about financing an investment property, if 20% is required I would happily put that down.