Renovations were quite a bit more than we had expected due to more issues than we were aware of.

I am eager to start but can't get around the glaring issue of not having initial capital so I was wondering if there are any methods you guys would use to raise capital if you were in my shoes or is it just time to put my head down and put in long hours? 

Class midwest issues. 

Hard money lenders have a good amount of flex when it comes to FICO score and typically the main issue that borrowers with low FICO's have is that their max loan size gets cut which doesn't seem to be an issue here.

I know people who do this and I do not believe there are issues with it, but speak to an attorney and they should probably notify the company if they are an employee of that company that they are doing this.

Given the scope of your work, a simple plumbing leak would not concern me, it's a $200 issue at the most and ideally, it's just another line item when you do rough in plumbing for the kitchen.Being in a Milwaukee suburb, I am guessing it's a 1960s ranch, probably with galvanized plumbing.

Let them know that they may wish to look for another place if that is going to be an issue.

Things can and will go bad, but once there is enough monthly cash flow generated it will be extremely difficult for that one big issue to put us away or even 2-3 big issues all at once. 

People who have service dogs (or horses, as these are the only 2 service animals) that are genuine have no issue disclosing that on the front end and can answer the 2 questions easily - is the animal necessary for a disability, and what specific tasks has the dog (or horse, if you're getting one of those) been trained to perform? 

The issue always boils down to equity.