The article is basically educational, but designed as a stealth advertisement for you. 

Beg borrow or steal the money to get the foundation fixed.Brian above had a very good suggestion on how on how to get a good loan.Get the place cleaned up as best as you can...farm out any of the prep that you can't do yourself.Take deep breaths. 

I enjoyed the stark reality & exposure of the small stealth expenses that drip like water to erode your financial wellbeing during the decades of a mind numbing 9-5 JOB. 

And even if I do find a really great deal and get it under contract, can't they just steal the deal from me by contacting the owner behind my back and setting up their own contract that is more appealing to the seller?

The varying heights are new to the bad guys sneaking trying to steal things so they likely trip or at least make loud enough noise to wake the people living inside. 

Charlie, we should have about 40 to 50 investors at my MeetUp on the 27th in South Austin and you will certainly learn a lot from our speaker...a "Stealth Investor" who buys 40 to 50 homes a year and very few investors even know who he is.

I purchased my first property in 2016 not knowing if it was a good or bad deal but I got it for a steal, the problem is I been coming out of pocket to get the work done, now I'm at my ending stage with getting it done.

Some brokers/agents deal dirty and might try to steal the site for one of their clients.

I just don’t want to have him pissed and then he could come back and steal things from the job site, which is usually how it goes.

The new PEX is awesome because its fairly cheap, easy to install and less chance of vandalism to steal the copper!