Don't hire contractors, who show up in a pressed shirt, can speak both Spanish and English and do zero work but pocket a fat margin.  

Their entire business model is to charge premiums and play hard to ever pay out on the fat tails.

Find a local small contractor that specializes in water damage and get them to bid the project making it crystal clear that it's you paying and not the fat wallet insurance company.

I don't even know how I'm going to fund the deal, but on fat deals, there's always money.

I guess everyone agrees that is a big fat no.

Thankfully some other deal will hopefully make up for that but I can't tell you how many deals have collapsed at the 11th hour through no fault of my own over the years and for me to get a fat $0 in earnings.

IF the occupant is financially strong, you use an LMLO,  the price is market and DTI works out and you do a good job of creating a fat folder.  

I fat fingered my zip code when signing up for BP, and now temporarily stuck with it

Once I get that one done overall cashflow will be fat.

Agree with Frank PatinoI would consider using my investments to pay off bad debt- Plus if the property is building equity from paying down the loan and increasing in value by the time you do retire the account you have now should be a fat little piggy bank.