Every system you try will have flaws or you'll salivate over a feature that shows up in other software.

But this incident illustrates that your recommendation to rely on insurance alone was possibly/probably flawed. 

Certainly most experienced commercial real estate agents and investors have a better understanding and properly put the numbers together but I have seen plenty work ups or project summaries which show a cap rate but the NOI they use to figure the cap rate out is flawed or the value they use is flawed.

At worst, these markets are "value traps" ... high yield but only because they have flawed fundamentals and chasing high yield on an asset that goes down in value over time and is likely to have a dividend cut in the future, so high risk of a negative total return.At the other extreme, there are markets like SF, LA, NYC.

When you take a home down to the studs, you have opportunity to rearrange floor plans, and allows you to uncover and remedy any unknown issues with the home.

However, as I asked questions and guidance on how best to move forward, I uncovered questions that could have potentially cost me my entire investment.

I saw so many flaws in your above posts that I don't know where to begin. 

<< -- Reed perhaps fails to understand that if someone has read 20 books on real estate investing, the 21st book will cover much of the same ground but in different words.Having read a great many books myself, I am indeed happy to uncover one new idea in the next book I read.As has been emphasized repeatedly on this site, the fundamentals of investing succesfully in real estate are relatively simple, but putting them into actual practice is often very difficult.

I don't like tile or uncovered hardwood floors throughout, especially in multi-units do to the noise factor.

Here are some great questions to ask to help uncover their why, motivation, and your negotiation leverage.Why did you reach out?