After some discussion, one of our main conclusions is that it only make sense to keep the house if we feel extremely confident it will continue to appreciate over the next 5-10+ years. 

These tenants were OK until halfway through their 2nd year (I extended their lease—also big mistake)I now understand, anyone wanting to rent my house will put on a good show of how reliable and honest they are and how they admire me, until we sign the lease.

Depending on the specific market, multifamily deals that make sense are extremely hard to come by.

Hello 👋🏾 - 1st time extremely excited House Hacker!

Honestly I don't have the answer.

Hey Carrie, I appreciate you sharing this story and being honest.

Since you haevn't acquired any properties yet I would honestly recommend waiting until April to interview as this time of year firms are pretty swamped with current year clients/filings. 

That situation would be extremely risky for a lender. 

To me it looks like the Three Stooges did it.One trade opens a hole in the wall/foundation to make some repairs, they don't do hole repairs and leave it.Homeowner decides to just leave it, or stack loose rubble bricks back in the hole--thus saving cost of a proper repair job.This is an extreme brick problem: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/defenders/2020/06/29/detroit-familys-home-collapses-as-landlord-refuses-to-answer-calls/

Go to meetups and network with other investors especially honest, hardworking investor-type agents that are looking out for your best interest not their pockets.