@Patrick Braswell Got it. just didn't want you to spend all the time working with your family members if the bank won't approve a HEL.

Spending the owner's money, not saying anything, and letting them discover it while reviewing the monthly statement is unprofessional.

Could be the best money you spend on the deal!

@Luis Cerwin as others have stated, Nov - Jan is the worst time of year to have a vacancy.Majority of tenants live paycheck-to-paycheck, so all their income goes to Holiday spending starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then xmas, then NYE.January is also historically the worst month for rent payments due to Holiday Hangover Spending.

Spend a year learning and going to meetups before you fork over a $50-$100k franchise fee and half of your profits and don't even know what you are doing.

Besides putting together the best SOW using accurate/actual quotes as @Peter Mckernan and @Alan Asriants commented above, another key aspect is tracking expenses (bookkeeping) and monitoring the budget throughout the project. 

That's why we require clients to spend a couple days with us in Milwaukee up front, so we can get on the same page and determine an asset quality.Hint: the hood looks much better on a spreadsheet than up close in person.

And you are wondering if you should spend lets say $125,000 on a house you have never seen ? 

An appraiser likely isn't going to spend time giving you much feedback in advance (unless you have a connection or they are super slow).   

I have a goal of being able to spend time with my daughter and family.