You see the low starting price.  

Indianapolis is still a good cash flow market but inventory is very low.

In more astute owner/property manager interactions, the contractor will be TOLD to decrease their price ASAP or the contractor would be terminated for any future consideration.I would most definitely contact the contractor to get the low down as to why it is more, since the property manager won't do it.It sounds like since you are doing a la carte service as opposed to full service, you are getting some bad answers from the property manager. 

It's unlikely that you would be showing a loss on a 50-unit, unless it's in a high-demand/low-cap rate market, where you're really getting appreciation and not a lot of relative cashflow.That being said, you don't do get to "hold on to" your RE losses.

We see that many people are moving farther and farther away from Raleigh to escape the high housing cost due to low inventory.

In order for your scenario to work, you need to purchase a property at a cost low enough that after you rehab the property you will be all in at less than 75% of the ARV (I say less than 75% because you also need to factor in the closing costs for the first loan and the refinance).  

There is a reason for everything you just have to dig for it What is the employment rate,crime rate ,average wage ,cost of living, is population decreasing ,did a large employer leave town etc,etc 

Condo's are appreciating quickly here, low inventory on the market, high demand for the investments upcoming on the resort mountain.

Houses will be low 400's to high 400's (1,900-2,300 sf) depending on the model.

I am having issues getting pre-approved through a bank as I only have one year W2 job history and two years self employment history, even though I have 660 credit 10K saved and we'll make around 70 K this year all income combined.