But the SFR rents are higher than norfolk in most cases, so it may not be quite equivalent.

There's no equivalent of disbarment or license suspension.

Is it better to negotiate for upgrades equivalent to the 3% commission the builder would be paying me(the buyers agent)?    

Whether that meets the criteria of your question is an open point-I committed equity equivalent to a 25% down payment.

The noteworthy detail here is that of course the subcontractors don't want to wait 2 or 3 months before they get paid, so you basically need about the equivalent of one draw in liquid cash on hand to get everyone paid before you can pull from your construction loan and reimburse your working capital.Early in January the concrete had cured just before temperatures started to drop into the teens.

I would definitely investigate the way the property is piped & wired now to see the extent of modification required to get each unit independent utilities, it may not be bad at all or may be terrible.If it's terrible I would see if the local utilities provider has something equivalent to a "RUBS program" (ratio utilities billing system) which bills tenants directly based on usage in proportion to the square footage of each unit. 

But we do it every day.There are parts of Columbia that are the equivalent of the Short North in Columbus the way it was 20 years ago: gentrification, rehabs working their way through entire neighborhoods. 

He understands keeping something on-budget and that not every job needs equivalent type of work.  

Well sure, BRRRR isn't strictly equivalent to the idea of going a mile wide and an inch deep, but they are very closely related. 

I see a lot of back and forth about you have to be local and can't do it if you're out of state etc... maybe it could be your lack of exposure to the people that live in these 30k houses....or maybe the news is causing you to have ideas about these people before even meeting these people....why do so many people think a 30k property is equivalent to ghetto.....