J Scott: My theory is the seller is ignorant of all the shenanigans.

My theory is that one day all these newbie investors are either going to go broke, or need decent property management.

(Although you could, in theory, argue that the professional management had a hand in getting that price for the property, if the numbers were better as a result.)I think you might be able to make the argument, though, that if a property owner and the property manager have a year-long agreement, and the property owner seeks to break that agreement mid-stream because the property is sold, the property manager might be entitled to a little something as compensation for breaking the agreement early.

I have found a SFH rental property for $100k that will rent for 1200, and this area is probably only a 1 mo/yr vacancy rate on the conservative side.I would live in the property for 1-2 years before renting it out, so that also absorbs some of the risk.Its hard to analyze a property on the 2% rule, 50% theory+cash flow/door when I also know I will be making decent money in the first 1-2 years just in the fact I will be living in it.Information on this area is that a standard SFH sells for $130k and rents for ~$1000, and the rental market is PACKED, so it takes a really good deal to meet the 2% rule.

Are you handy or do you have two left thumbs that you bang hammers with?  

Sounds good in theory, but in practice, property values and rent values moves up at different rates.

In theory, yes, you're using a higher percentage of your income to pay down your loans, but this is purely optional. 

Since you are flipping....not buy and hold investments....you are looking for the best "bang for the buck"..... what is going to have the best "pop" for what buyers are looking for......at the lowest price to you.If it were a buy and hold rental....

Most can't get past bullet point #3, which is where theory (all the things you love about 203k in theory) hits reality (reality: listing agents hate dealing with FHA 203k and most will "anti-sell" your offer by telling their sellers to throw your offer in the trash).

@Kevin Wheeler, you can - that's the theory.