Great to see such a good community building and working together at all levels of the real estate spectrum!!

I believe if you go it alone, try to figure out every question to ask, and from scratch try to determine what the full spectrum of due diligence includes, you will lose money. 

This figure is true but distorted because FSBO tend to be on the lower end of the price spectrum and Realtor-listed properties tend to be more expensive properties.

so w/that being the case, even if i eyeball the property myself i may not have a trustworthy range of repair costs when i go to have the contract signed.any tips or strategies from all ends of the spectrum are warmly welcomed.

What I do see is a lot less houses available on the low end of the spectrum which is typically where flippers make their money.

On the other end of the spectrum is a gut rehab / new construction in a speculative location (this is high-risk, opportunistic strategy).

Then get at least 3 contractor bids, because different contractors will give you a pretty wide spectrum of bids.  

Then talk to him about the place and see what the deal is and where in the spectrum things will work.

or does the tax on capital gains vary based on where you land in the income spectrum?

@Audrey Ezeh  Average length of ANY home ownership or property ownership is 7 to 10 years. .across the spectrum  we all buy and sell.. buy and hold for 30 years is pretty rare.. but it does happen of course.