I imagine that time period was miserable for both you and the residents.

@Ashish Acharya ok, so basically how I imagined it should work in the first place.

It wouldn't hurt to ask a few more banks to see what they can offer but I cant imagine you getting anything lower than 5% which would drop your payment to $415.

Once these are complete you take title to the new improved property (or the LLC holding the property) completing your 1031 exchange and using exchange proceeds for both purchase and improvement of the new property.As you can imagine improvement exchanges are a bit more complex and expensive. 

Imagine, if I had waived the due diligence.In the end, I now have another question to ask the seller up front.

It's a tough market trying to buy for cash I can't imagine how hard it would be waiting on a loan.  

I imagine market rent in a condo or "gated" community will allow you to included those fees in your rental amount.

I'd suggest a Google search - I don't know TX but have to imagine a market of that size has similar operations.

I'm not looking to profiteer, but I could see a benefit to moving down and working with a contractor company just to meet the inevitable incoming demand (I have little experience, but want to learn), and I imagine there will be a whole new market of available properties to flip.

I just can't imagine myself sitting in an office typing into an excel spreadsheet for 9 hours a day and loving it, which is why I've turned my attention to real estate.