[Milestone 2 and payment amount].Retainage: [Insert percentage, if applicable].Final payment will be made upon satisfactory completion of the work, as verified by the Contractor.4.

I finally fired them and my property is SOOOO much better.

Texas does have specific rules regarding home equity loans and cash-out refinancing (often referred to as "Texas Equity Section 50(a)(6)"), but these don’t prohibit homeowners from using funds for investment properties.

And addressing my item #1 comment, almost always, when a "distressed" homeowner is approached, they initially are grateful to have the loan brought current, but before long they forget the circumstances they were in and you become the bad guy that stole their house.

I'd guess half of this final third eventually sold, even if several years later. 

I took a small private loan and bought my first home.

The modeling of this is actually pretty easy (see link: 42-unit proforma sample), but my model treats the pre-refi loan as I/O, but that can be updated based on your deal.

I flip with cash, not loans, mainly because there are not enough deals out there that meet my highly selective acquisition criteria, so no need to pay interest on cash otherwise sitting in a money market account. 

.- Finally where to buy: in general, ON, BC are expensive while AB, QC follows and other provinces, such NB, NS, PEI are much much more affordable.

Quote from @Vince Scipione: Standard would be an FHA loan for your situation more than likely.