A few more questions about rehab projects?

[Patrick Philip]

I am preparing to do my first flip in the upcoming months.

1. I have seen some listings where the house currently has a tenant in it. Should I avoid these or does this matter? Is it just "oh well, deal with it," for the tenant? I have no problem if it is, but I might be worried about him/her getting injured or something.

2. I have read the section on landscaping from J. Scott's book, but I have an additional question. If the yard currently has dirt/sand, does that mean that I should plant grass seeds and buy bushes? I literally know nothing about landscaping and I don't want my ignorance of the subject to result in me getting ripped off.

3. What legal trouble could I get in for injuries of unlicensed, uninsured handymen on the job? I definitely am going to hire them to do things like floors, cabinets, and drywall on non-loadbearing walls because they can give me a better price. I also plan to hire them even to do stuff that requires a license such as installing fans and toilets because they give me a better price. What's the worst case scenario here? I have found some quality handymen that can really save me a lot of money and I don't want to give all my profits to contractors just because they have a license.