I participated in a discussion on the sharing economy at the last CPCU convention (chartered property casualty underwriter) about the pitfalls of current coverage offerings.

Be a GREAT negotiator on your behalf     Protect you when writing a contract to give you an out if necessary    Write the offer in a multiple offer situation to make your stand out    Negotiate repairs if necessary and have rehab knowledge    Be able to navigate all the pitfalls during the closing process    Be a problem SOLVER not a problem creatorI guarantee you that these qualities are far more important than any of the issues you presented and will save you thousands over the agent who drives you here and there. 

I think my first step is to find a Mentor who is willing to show me the ropes and steer me from the dark halls and pitfalls this industry contains. 

Plus, you are not expecting pit falls of construction, what if your contractor walks out, what if you have a sub-floor problem, what if you run into some issues with your contractor and will hit a delay of 1 month to get everything settled?

I suggest having a good Realtor help you figure ARV to avoid this pit fall. 

Even then there's pitfalls you need to watch out for.A better option might be to work with your accountant and explore some gifting scenarios or contribution of assets to a 3rd party corporate entity which ends up being in your sole possession.

@Hersh M.I would be happy to share as even though it shows how badly one can mis-judge their own abilities, I have been able to take those mistakes and turn them into a million dollar property management business so looking back I feel that was my Real Estate  College education of hard knocks...People do seem to like it so much that I have given speaking presentations on this subjects and been guests on many podcasts discussing this issue (My mistakes :-) ) It feels good that I can help other people avoid the same pitfalls that I fell into when they are buying.

There are some pitfalls you'll want to avoid.First you want to think of each sale as one separate exchange with it's own unique 45 day identification period and 180 day window to close.  

.), we get the $20,000 so that we can then do the house as we see fit.There are many other pitfalls you must pay attention to when selling early, but none as important as this one.  

The past can't be changed, but they can point out pitfalls to avoid in the future.If you think gurus are a problem, state what courses you took.