can I find absentee owners and water cut off lists etc.. on PropStream?

Cutting our losses and selling was difficult, but it was the best option given our financial woes.I’d love to hear from others—has anyone else faced something this unexpected during a BRRRR or flip?

Given the details you provided, I personally might not want to settle this in mediation with this tenant however as I'd probably just want a judge to cut through the BS and tell them to pay up and get out at this point.

If you have an active root...over time it will grow back in there unless you excavate, cut and remove. 

@Joshua Lanzieri when renovating older properties there are almost always negative surprises.Go watch any HGTV renovation show and most of them will have this as a cliff-hanger, forcing the choice of either going over budget or cutting back elsewhere.10% overruns happen often, but 50% is NOT acceptable!

Starting with a mentor is very smart – it really cuts down on the learning curve, especially with something like a fix & flip.

Often, owners beat up PMCs for a low price, but fail to understand the PMC will often cut corners to make sure they are still profitable. 

House hacking could possibly at least cut that painful expense so not saying you shouldn't do but really watch your numbers.

I've wondered that myself and thought: If an investor was looking for birddogs why would the birddog have to pay the investor money before they began securing leads for the investor, that the investor would then in turn give the birddog an investor's cut on the profit end???

And you can do it with little cash, 5% down conventional is better than 3.5% FHA.House hacking also gives you a chance to cut your teeth in all major skills: analyzing deals, buying process, financing, working with contractors, advertising for rent, background checks, property management.