It will cost less than $150,000 and will need moderate renovation work.

Utilities cost $150 per month.

However, I still struggle to understand the art of estimating rehab costs. 

For residential multifamily properties (1 - 4 units), can you use a home warranty to take care of the repair costs associated with rentals?

For example, they won't need to cover your personal belongings (furniture, clothing, etc.) because you won't be living there.A landlord policy should cost about the same as a homeowner's policy; it just changes what is covered.

He's changing the terms of the agreement, and you can choose to accept it or reject it.I don't think it's fair to pass this cost onto the tenant just because you are unwilling to stand up to the contractor.

On your tax return you would report the proceeds, subtract costs and proceeds paid to seller, then the remaining profit would be your flat fee.

Taxes, costs, eviction complexity, etc are going to be a much bigger factor in your success than anything else.

-save $1k+ in taxes and fees yearly-can use the savings to get more insurance and a higher liability than the value of house. for flipping houses in California does anyone just put into sole proprietor own name and just use the $1k+ in savings for LLC costs into Insurance or use for savingor am I just being too risky. 

Low cost, possibly yes, but also possibly very time consuming and that has a cost.