You will surely need them for any sizable project like this....and that will drive up the cost....As far as flipping in a small town, you can make money anywhere, it just depends on the desirability of the area.

In this high-interest rate/high-price market, house-hacking is more about offsetting as much cost as you can.

Is this scenario any different than a hard money lender lending 100% (we did find one), paying as part of the rehab cost, a contractor, and only reaping the benefits of the interest and points he would charge?

I like to pay close attn to the rent to cost as a buy and hold guy.

You can raise rents whatever you want thanks to the Costa Hawkins Act (at least for now) but all of the other rights for tenants are in play.It depends on how you define cash flow, but with $500K down you may have cash flowing properties because you will have a low LTV.

We started an LLC to help manage the cost as well as the income.

But most contractors want all the work and cost a ton of money which we don’t have since I’m using a construction advance loan. 

I have a beach-adjacent property in Costa Rica, a 2 bed-1 bath house within 60 seconds of the beach.   

Many believe this is a cost saving mecanism but in many cases it will cost as much if not more and will not be as sound of a legal instrument.

A different and, for some purposes, a better statement of the conclusion is that parties will tend to want damages to be the remedy when the reason for breach is high cost (as could only be true for a contract to produce) and would tend to prefer specific performance to be the remedy when the reason for breach is sale to an outside party (as could be true either for a contract to produce or for a contract to convey).Consequently, it appears this piece, while admittedly interesting, has nothing to do with what we are discussing.I have not seen anything to date that indicates that a court would do anything other than order specific performance if the buyer has met his burden never mind considering whether the buyer intends to be an occupant of flip it.Based on the work product produced so far, I doubt I will be retaining you anytime soon.P.S.