With that comes different exposures and risks that they need to properly rate for.

Having a main water source available is pretty important and not having it could affect your reviews.

The second part is very personal and different for everyone. 

Yikes, very different experience than what I've had with the judges in my area.

It would be a rare new RE investor that could hope to have taken on this project without partners with experience.My point is investors in different stages of life and experience have different criteria for their RE investments.  

So far it has helped me and I have done this on two deals in different states with different banks.

I have not seen a significant difference in this area between section 8 and non-section 8 tenants, personally. 

I'm an investor and a licensed mortgage broker who has done fix and flips both using my home's equity and borrowing against the investment property.If you (1) have enough equity in your home to fully fund the deals, (2) don't mind tying that equity up for these deals vs saving it for a rainy day and (3) are ok linking the place you sleep with the success of the flips, this could make sense.We offer a ton of different fix and flip programs including putting 10% down on the purchase price and funding 100% of the rehab.

We want to explore investing in different type of property or doing airbnb.

You can cover the wire mesh with drywall patches (they tape on wall and across the wire, white/paintable, different sizes) as the wire mesh is what will prevent the rats from eating their way into the property (the covering material is cosmetic only).