I've remodeled dozens of houses and done a handful of ground-up construction and I'll give you some reassurance...

If I sell, I will rent locally, my expenses will go up from my current $2200 mortgage, to $3000-$3500 rent. 

So, I would be very conservative (for your standpoint) on the researched estimate.I would do what I suggested above, then if the tenant takes you to small claims court you explain to the judge the legislative time restrictions you were under in order to come up with an accurate repair expense.This is yet another example of how "tenant protection" laws, in practice, end up hurting the tenant in the end.

My dudes the best, hit my up with your email and I'll make an intro! 

thanks for your time and help 1st off, full disclosure here, Rent To Retirement advertises their properties on my Investment Properties For Sale Show, so I am not a totally unbiased opinion and it's only fair that I tell you this up frontHaving said that, outside of running my show for people like them, I also own a property management company in Northeast Ohio and have worked with 1,000's of out of state investors over the years.I say all of that to say this, the overwhelming majority of negative reviews I have seen on them are very similar to a lot of negative experiences investors have with my property management company and others like it that I've worked with.

The right real estate team can help you find the best opportunities and structure the deal in a way that sets you up for long-term success.

If you are handy, and want to take on this project as a rent to own home, then I’ll sell it to you for $165,000 and as you fix it up and if it appraises for higher than that, then you can still buy it for $165,000 even if it appraises for $20,000 or $30,000 more than that.

ended ended up at retirement with 0 - $500,000 in net worth from real estate investing.  

I think this is most valuable because there is a lot of discussion surrounding owning investment property in an LLC or not, and this insurance topic rarely comes up in the discussion.

Will interest rates go up or down when Freddie/Fanny are 100% privatized?