Ultimately, any money I saved was wiped out from city violations from an un-kept lawn.But above all – Alex’s comment above says it perfectly. 

You could look more into a Lease Purchase or Land Contract instead where you are doing a seller carry scenario of sorts, then you could re-rent the property and ultimately re-sell the property. 

You ultimately made the right choice with all the updated facts.

Seems like a very intriguing way of managing property and benefitting from increase NOI and ultimately property value.I am looking at a 3 family property that needs a ton of work (perhaps $75-100K, although I haven't done a deep dive on pricing yet).

If you're still looking at different strategies I'd recommend reading through The Ultimate Beginner's Guide as it breaks them down.

Ultimately, I plan to use a it as tool for starting investments.

Most of the sod should survive, what doesn't can be replaced in the spring.

The list price, although not arbitrary, is ultimately just someone's best informed guess at what the home will sell for.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/31/ultimate-beginners-guide-real-estate-wholesaling-2/Great way to get your questions narrowed down so that we can answer them!

I really recommend reading the Ultimate Beginner's Guide (https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing) to give yourself some perspective. good luck!!