The Kipling St deal resulted in a same-day flip, purchased for $197,000 and sold for $205,000, yielding an instant profit.

And I am sure you know, but just in case I will explain why you cannot get a loan without insurance. if the house was to burn down and there was no insurance the lender would have no way to get paid back.

I've seen complaints from other STR owners with photos of laminate counters with burn rings from hot pots, which won't happen with granite. 

Negotiating the seller down on sale price from $200,000 - $185,000 to build some instant equity in the property.

if it burns down, I will have insurance.  

I tried early on to keep in touch but quickly was burned out by the volume of people I was getting.

my main goal is to just get the roof in before weather gets bad.is there anything I can do aside from a 3k escrow holdback suggested by my agent to prevent getting burned?  

Too many gurus make it seem like someone will have instant success and when they don't here comes the upsell.

As for me, if I were back to square one, knowing what I now know, I would instantly spend the money again for the program we invested in. 

But also people are thinking of marching to the house of the lady who POSSIBLY reported the squirrel and burning their house down, so I think it's best I dont go down that route haha.