Grow your funds through extra jobs, part-time work, and teaming up with others.

The emotional side of me is so angry that they damaged a house I put a lot of work and TLC into, and that between damage and lost rent, basically a year of profits from the house will be wiped out, but the logical side of me thinks I may be throwing good money at bad.

I also agree, the property needs a lot of work and the apartments are not laid out very well.. especially that wonky top floor bathroom :)  Thomas, also keep in mind some banks may not lend on a property with an underground oil tank..

You are going to have a lot of trouble finding financing options with a 2nd lien and to 100% make up a purchase price (i.e. 100% debt financed with no equity or down payment "skin in the game") as part of your payment.I'd recommend looking in the "Creative Financing" subforum if you want to explore potential ways of doing this but frankly it is really difficult to find a genuine "shortcut" that wont end badly for not investing any of your money at all.BRRRR Method remains IMO the best for this but you still have to put some of your own capital to use during the process

Or save yourself a lot of work and develop a relationship with a private money broker who can shop for you.

Other details: I live, and work and the home I purchased is in Cape Coral, Florida.

Your hard work and determination have paid off, and it's inspiring to see you take this big step in your real estate journey.

Does SFH or Duplex value add strategy still work, and how is the inventory?

I'm curious to hear from the experienced folks - finding the right property at below-market value for BRRRR seems very exhaustive, wouldn't they be more motivated to sell a property at market value for less work and more profit?

I said eff this too much work and sold it for $50k.