My Why became:  I invest in real estate to provide a predicable and sustainable income to allow me to retire at a robust standard of living without the fear of running out of money!  

The borrower on a 203k needs to use a contractor that has the financial resources to start the 203k with no money upfront and be able to sustain the project until the draws, such as a Certified 203k Contractor. 

Once you are doing well enough you can invest some profits in real estate for growing and sustaining long term growth.

Flying blind is not a wise nor a sustainable strategy: Eventually you are going to crash into a mountain!

Having a relationship, where they can see how much you have in savings/checking and have maintained over a sustained period can help as well.I would not apply for anymore credit at this point. 

I owner manage 84 units in the Portland/Vancouver area, and could not sustain a 30% decrease in rental income for long. 

Unless you’ve found the Holy Grail, that is not sustainable.

My two cents: Vacation Rental business/Airbnb STRs that are well managed as a business probably have a sound emergency plan and reserves that can sustain them of a few months.

We can sustain 20% in loss rent indefinitely.

Not sure if they'll let me post a link but I'll try;https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200319-Life-Sustaining-Business.pdfPhiladelphia is trying to be consistent with state guidance now, so I imagine they feel the same way.