This is not a get rich quick scheme and the relationships you build will help improve your business as time goes on.

However, if you identify the problem and make sure you're not repeating it you may find that a 3k loss in the grand scheme of things is a fairly cheap education.I think the best thing to do might be to dump as much information into the post as you can.

YUP not going to get a HML to come in as mezz financing.. you need to put your time and effort into raising capital then go shop.. not that you can't find some seller that will give you a owner financed deal.. but its a lot of leg work finding that one seller that will do that.. it happens of course.. will you put in a year and thousand hours or hit one right off the bat. this broker is protecting his client like he should.. in the grand scheme of things your talking small money.. so it should not be too difficult to go find a 50k investor.. and yes most are all full of BS... not sure if these folks who are all hat and no cattle get a charge out of wasting folks time.. but its seems to be a pretty common theme.  

Any grey-based colour choices - even richer ones - externally should work.

Stay with a neutral paint scheme that you'll use in all of your properties.

Of course projects should be built to code, but permits often to be just a money,-making scheme for cities.

I also believe that you should work their pricing scheme into your calculation or communicate with them through the entire process from identifying the property, the initial walkthrough, the offer, and the acceptance.

I’m a big fan of leaving the old oak features and incorporating the new white a grey color scheme.

It appears to just be a marketing scheme for the sites.Hope this helps.

Goes with the color schemes I end up with on cabinets, counters and flooring.