Also your finishing work unless you are a natural will look less than professionalThe way to not get taken advantage of is to have multiple quotes, detailed contracts, and to do your homework on construction.Construction projects are as high risk, high reward, as D class inverting.

That means I could only be rewarded monetarily (in addition to my refund) and not with the property.

Hope this helps. doing ride share at night will be more financially rewarding then trying to wholesale without substantial cash to pay for marketing and no experince in real estate and sales.. but also does not mean your not a natural and get lucky and it works.. just be careful to go into debt and it does not work and your worse off than you are now. 

There are a thousand different ways to invest in real estate and they are not all equal in regards to risk or reward.  

Most investors are focusing on appreciation, and the rewards on the backside, not necessarily the cash flow at this time.

You gotta take some risk to get some reward.

It's important to not let rent fall too far under market rent (for resale, for cash flow, etc), but it is worthwhile to reward goodstanding tenants with a lighter increase than you would use for a new tenant. 

It helps: of course the investor due to returns, the realtor/wholesalers get their work rewarded, the contractors get money for honest work, the property managers get to do their jobs and get rewarded for their hard work. 

Not always easy but rewarding for sure!

One is absolutely not exclusive to the other.The choice to use them is based on your risk tolerance and cost/reward ratio.