You turned THEIR $1,000 in to $1,500.

That kind of shoot-from-the-hip approach can be fun for a minute, but it usually ends up like my old buddy Rick’s first deal.. he bought a distressed fourplex in Tucson years back without a real plan, and while he eventually turned it into a solid monthly cash flow, he spent the first six months sleeping with one eye on the tenant ledger, praying the HVAC wouldn’t bail on him after a hot desert day.

If you walk into a bathroom and see peeling paint on the ceiling, you know that room was not ventilated while showers were taken.Wire exhaust fans to the same switch as the light so that the fan has to be turned on.

I ask everyone I meet who they recommend, like I asked my realtor for bankers and contractors etc, and in turn ask the bankers for realtors they like.

You could try reaching out to ask questions and maybe that would turn into a sort of mentorship type relationship if adding a partner is not on the table. 

Let me know how it turns out!

Every time they smoked in their bathroom, they would turn on the vent to get the smoke out which in turn made my whole apartment smell like a ganja lab.

This is where real estate investing turns into a great area and on paper investment strategies seem great, but when applying them to reality, things can quickly change.

A project with a 75% cost to ARV will still turn a profit.This thing goes wrong when the GC arm of the process fails, neglects, steals, becomes unresponsive, misappropriate funds, does a poor job. 

Contract is very clearly and states that if seller cannot produce a clean title than EM is to be returned to the buyer.