A word of GREAT caution attempting to self-repair your credit... 

I am new to REI and am attempting to explore all avenues to make my first deal.

I “thought” they would come back and get the second in the next few days.Unfortunately four weeks went by and despite certified letters and phone calls to the previous owners from the realtor, it was never removed.Ultimately I paid a guy $275 to make it disappear.Obviously, I have not been happy having to deal with this problem for the last month and the fact that I had to pay for its removal is maddening.Especially since I feel that both realty companies, the previous owner and the contractor all walked away with my money and I was left holding this bag.In the future I will not make this mistake.But, my question to BP is whom should I attempt to get reimbursed?

If you're adventuring into an alternative in the attempts to make it mainstream, I'd give these a thought and make sure your payback is in line with the  long term desirability .

As a wholesaler, would you wait and attempt to contract with the seller at a later date or would you just ditch this house and keep going?

Either they are a fool or you are, or perhaps both, but not neither.I won't even begin to get into the gaping flaws in your logic about valuation ... that shows either ignorance on real estate valuation or an attempt to artificially pump up values using valuation methods that are not valid.

Attempts to negotiate a higher rent is hopeless. 

layers) and essentially did a full gut rehab, including correcting some structural issues caused by an attempted "fix" of a bad tub surround in the shower.

A real estate broker, for the purposes of this article, is defined to be a person, firm or corporation who, for a fee, commission or other valuable consideration, or by reason of a promise or reasonable expectation thereof, lists for sale, sells, exchanges, buys or rents, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale, exchange, purchase or rental of real estate or an interest therein, or collects or offers or attempts to collect rent for the use of real estate or solicits for prospective purchasers or assists or directs in the procuring of prospects or the negotiation or closing of any transaction which does or is contemplated to result in the sale, exchange, leasing, renting or auctioning of any real estate or negotiates, or offers or attempts or agrees to negotiate a loan secured or to be secured by mortgage or other encumbrance upon or transfer of any real estate for others, or any person who, for pecuniary gain or expectation of pecuniary gain conducts a public or private competitive sale of lands or any interest in lands.

I will attempt to be brief but informative.My wife and I are both in our mid twenties.