Now we are getting started in Birmingham AL (my mom's birthplace) and are excited to branch out to select areas in the South over the next few years.I am starting off with flips, but will transition soon to rentals using a BRRR strategy.

Supply-Chain Strategy: Shifting from demand-side solutions to active development of new housing units3.

I personally decided to branch out of student rentals when I saw all of the apartments coming up.  

(Southaven, Olive Branch and Horn Lake). 

You should get some more estimates, but what you are really trying to do is to find someone who has a license and insurance to do it for the cheapest price and that will set off a chain of events that will never end.It's more likely that you bought the house with a wrong scope of work done because you don't have a GC and thought you could DIY it.

Autocratic governments tend to have even more issues because the issues are hidden from the public and nobody within those institutions wants to risk pushing them up the chain to get solved. 

Go down to your local bank branch, hopefully it's a smaller bank (they will have better rates and service and be more thankful), and ask about HELOCs.

If not, there could be numerous chains of the contract which can convolute things.

This enables you to get your feet wet while seeing how the experience goes and once you get that settled in and you're comfortable with your processes then I'd start branching out into other investments whether it be local to you or out of state. 

I even gave you the olive branch and acknowledged how butthurt new investors can get.