And there's always the chance the developers you try to work with on your own will try to take advantage of your lack of experience by giving you a low-ball offer.

That was precisely the sort of site I was hoping for.

U can have zero experience and just need a few bucks and a  good credit score and you can buy a home to live in or a rental.. but not development deals.. different ball game

Originally posted by "Toby_Munk":I have to admit you have some ball.

He immediately can tell me if it’s a property worth pursuing and can give me a ball point estimate of what the rehab may cost and what the scope of work will be.

I'm spit balling a little, but you have a create a deal to get the outsized returns that STRs offered a few years ago.

You as the buyer also have rights under fair lending and you should never be forced to use a builders lender. 90% of the time lenders drop the ball and end up not being able to close on time or their overlays cost the buyer the deal and in some cases earnest money.I would walk away from a deal that forces you to put $50K in earnest and use some generic lender who may not even be able to close the deal.

If the numbers are close than you are in the ball park.

Not sure in your area but 200K should be enough to get the ball rolling. 

But this is precisely the reason I wanted to post this question--to get insights from people who with different experience and perspective.