It’s not a quick or cheap process, but could serve as an alternative to a quiet title actions in states where the legal process is onerous.

For this market and alternative investment vehicles, I would consider these properties to be solid investments.  

Clearly there are some legal alternatives to leveraging unique relationships before having a license on the wall. 

Account ClosedFirst let me say, congratulations on finding an alternative and less risky avenue for your talents.

Alternatively they could also just convert it to a rental, keep it for a year and then 1031 exchange into a more desirable property.

Alternatively, you could do something creative with it, like find an experienced investor, sell him half the equity in the place in exchange for paying for the upgrade/rehab, and co-own it with him.

@Bernadeau Charles Most alternatives mentioned either require you have intermediate level of real estate knowledge or have a pedestrian user interface (I've used most of them). 

., but just can't bring ourselves to give the lenders all that money as the additional costs and higher rates involved in those types of loans makes the numbers seem worse, and stocks have been a better alternative for us recently than taking out expensive loans for more real estate. 

Or, other alternatives?

That said, you would need to be able to show that you sought alternative means of coverage, and were either subsequently denied - or would have been required to pay substantially higher premiums.