Its their labor,   truck costs,  disposal costs,   licences, certifications, and all the taxes and stuff they have to pay.Also be careful that the full wall demo (last picture,  with furnace in it)  isn't a load bearing wall.if you are inclined and able,  stripping a kitchen down to bare room  isn't that hard  (kinda fun too to smash cabinets with sledgehammer)  but make sure you are able to haul the materials to the dump,  which may mean renting/borrowing a trailer or pickup if you don't have such equipment.   

If your buddies want to get hammered every Friday and Saturday night, and your significant other has completely different dreams than you then yes, they'll slow you down. 

do what @Chris Seveney for sure drive around more and look for properties in bad shape,email market to realtors,attorneys,bail bond companies and the like if you are handy with a hammer go work with another investor for free and learn the the remodeling biz i met a new investor at our last meetup,he is buying a wholesale deal from a friend of minemy friend and i are both goin to help him remodel for free to learn more about this businessput your work boots on and always remember there are not quick easy ways into this biusinesswelcome to bp @Jessica Selby 

Some folks can swing hammers well but can't balance a checkbook to save their life.

Having no loan on mine, the cash flow gets hammered by taxes.

Also interest rates are rising and if they go up quickly, stock market REIT prices are going to get hammered in the short term.  

I should have dropped the hammer earlier but didn't so again, my fault. 

If you try the intimidation method (aka 'I could make you pay $XXX for breaking the lease) you put the tenant on the defense and they will not going up and out of their way for you... they will do just want is needed to avoid your threatening hammer of fines.

You just can’t use it to misrepresent yourself as a broker.Jeff,  there was a guy in Denver i believe that sold this kind of program kind of pre GFC.. he got hammered by the AG  and I beleive maybe even criminal.. but it was the same thing drop a bunch of craigs list adds..

If you can do 5% down, that allows you to access Homestyle loans with Fannie Mae that allow you to swing your own hammer on your property vs being forced to rely on a GC.Or new builds are an option starting in the high 200's/low 300's if you don't want to worry about the rehab portion.