A short time later, I found myself on a plane to Spokane, Washington, to attend an Inner Circle class which was taught by Lee Arnold personally.

We attract high quality tenants. 

If the deal goes south and you have next to zero money in the deal, selling a short sale or walking isn't as risky for you since you aren't losing much.

I will DM you shortly. 

Time allows for adjustments, scaling, and reinvestment in ways that short-term projects simply can’t achieve. 

If anything, at least wait a year so you don't pay short-term capital gains on the sale of the property.I need to find some more deals like that here in Chicago...where in Houston was this property?

Many banks wont touch deals that are sub 90% occupancy, so you could negotiate short term seller financing to help give you runway to make the building bankable for a refinance while you reposition it.

No...there are many reasons why installing it over the carpet will prove to be a nightmare in a relatively short period. 

Yes we ask towards the top of the market, but I anticipate my holding times (which are in line as the short supply in my area is able to work for me) and build that in. 

Debt is attractive to most people because they don't have the funds to do a project and instead of saving for years this is faster and easier but things go wrong and if you don't have reserves you can quickly find yourself in trouble.