The account has been growing and is about to match/surpass the balance on the mortgage.

Your apparently bad experience does not match up with my knowledge of the handling of thousands of claims which for the most part were handled appropriately. 

Agent should do most of the searching but not all, as you may have interest on something that does not fully match the criteria you gave your agent.hope this helps understand how “professional” agents work!

Find other projects in other areas of the country that match the type use and see what their success rates are (I found one in my own backyard - there is a project doing the exact same thing here in Peachtree Corners GA). 

A GC has connections with vendors and subs that an investor can never match.

Are you reaching out to home owners that matches your criteria, or are you reaching out to individuals that are going through life events like Probate and Foreclosures?

then when you are ready to sell, treat it as a flip and upgrade enough to match your market and maximize your ARV!

So again, it can vary widely (and someone else's random experience is probably not going to match your own).

I'd focus mostly on finding one that matches your strategy.

With that said, the market is still red hot and there aren’t anywhere enough new builds to match demand in the suburbs.