It’s not to bad as long as you have a good reliable plumber and electrician.

Mid May: Appraisal came in, water and HVAC weren't on, so appraiser required plumber and HVAC inspections.

In addition to choosing one with experience with 203k loans I would vet lenders and look at their local reputation.

Is it a greedy seller who wants top dollar for a pile of poo, or someone who is actually going to work with the guys/gals who are going to execute the project and have their butts/reputations/credit scores on the line?  

We have been lucky to find a great electrician, plumber and HVAC contractor, however we are pretty particular and are concerned with the workmanship of others doing the "finishing type work".   

Justin, You can rollover your 401k into self-directed IRA, but not into HSA, which is Health Savings Account and not a retirement plan.There are several reputable providers here on BiggerPockets who are active on the forum, just search the forum for related keywords and you will find out who they are.

When the plumber came over to fix he stated right away that it was from the water freezing up in the pipe and then splitting the pipe under enormous pressure.

hey just some advice from a plumber ive been doing plumbing for 5 years nowyou said you had a iron sump pit, likely the pit is beginning to corrode and thats the cause of the iron deposits, now a days most pits are made from composit plastics ,another possibility is the piping could be the cause if its a metal pipe [iron or galvinized steel ] it could be contaminating the water being pumped out, again most pipes now a days are PVC either sch 40 ,80 or ABS to prevent this issue, it could be the pump is corroded and failing but if its working i doubt that its that ad if the pump was that bad it likely would have failedother than those the only other thing that comes to mind is that it could be something in the basement that is made of iron or steel that is in the pathway to thw water on its journey to the pit.hope this helps

I tried doing some plumbing work without a licensed plumber and got dinged by the city...

Perhaps they're still building these homes and you could talk to the plumber??