Of course if it does not cash flow after the refinance then it's not worth pursuing. 

Then the fun really begins as I pursue my goal of $100k in 2019!

I have begun this journey with extreme motivation, and I believe my “reasons why” for pursuing this are very strong.

Decide if you want to pursue after discussion. 

But, with that said, maybe the areas that @Kellen King mentioned are no-brainers and therefore should be pursued first. 

If for some reason you really have to get this property, it might be easiest to pursue a master lease with the owner, or a lease purchase, or contract for deed type transaction, and then you can sub-lease the property. 

My wife and I both worked for nearly a decade for a commercial property company focused on leasing and sales in the retail sector so personal real estate investing was always a path we knew we would pursue having seen first hand the wealth real estate can generate. 

I'm not going to pursue this property but I would still love to hear about anyone who did a fix and flip in a rough neighborhood. 

Texas is a verbal contract state...so even if you simply said it over the phone the applicant could pursue civil action and attempt to force compliance to the agreement.2.

If this property works out my plan would be to pursue a FHA owner occupancy loan, live in it for a year and fix up, move out after a year and rent the property out.