Deferring payments until rehab is complete and I move in?

[Kyland Stevens]

I am new to real estate, and am hoping someone with experience can help me. I am currently renting a house in Santa Rosa, CA. I want to buy a property in the Sacramento area and move there next summer.  I want to buy a distressed property, and do a remodel, then live in the house for 2-3 years, and then sell it (kind of like a long term flip).  

1) What would be the best way to do this?  I've looked into 203k loans, but it seems like that might be a challenging way to buy a house since you need to have your contractor give you a bid for the work to be completed before the house is actually bought. 

2) Should I purchase the distressed property, and then find a contractor, and get an additional loan to complete them work?

3) When I get my home loan, is it possible that the bank would let me defer the mortgage payments until the remodel is done, and I am living in the house?  My thought here is to stay in my current rental until the remodel is complete, but I don't think I can afford to pay my rent ($2400/month) and the mortgage payment at the same time for several months while the work is being done.

If anyone has any experience doing this, please tell me how you did it!  

Thank you to anyone that reaches out!!!! :)