If he is only having hard money for a few months the delta between 7 and 10-12% is not that much.There are many other reasons, but those two I see are the most common

Also, there are no coverages for the most common homeowners' losses like water backup-- it's just standard coverages.3.Youshould get insurance as soon as possible -- there should be insurance on thecondo at all times.

If they had required landlord history to use rental income above just offsetting the payment and rental income resulted in qualifying dti I guess, but that would not be a common scenario when using long term rental income.

It allows you to learn from the mistakes of others so you can shortcut the process and avoid common mistakes investors make.

While seller financing is less common with flips, there is no real reason it can't be used, as long as it satisfy your needs and the sellers.  

What would be some common pitfalls in either transaction?

It just isn’t necessary to execute on our strategies.But all of our participants have one thing in common: they're not looking or a quick fix.

It's pretty common to obtain 100% financing for both the purchase and rehab funds after you've been doing this for a while.Borrowing, of course, is a two-edged sword because your interest payments, especially for a hard money loan, can eat 1/4 to 1/3 of your profit.

They suggest relying on the inspection contingency instead.Is this a common practice right now, or is it specific to my area?

This is common in the Chicago market.