Your cost to acquire project entitlements would be limited to; third party cost, any option fees paid to the landowner plus the value you place on your time (which includes your learning experience).Investing your time and a defined cost as noted above mitigates your concerns about risk because it's knowable and tolerable.

Also not sure about well/septic or city utilities as this will impact cost as well.

So, it may cost a homeowner $50k to do a renovation, whereas the rehabber can do it in $30k.

My point here is that if you are going to look at every cost as a negative, then you might as well look at the interest you're paying on the loan as well and try to payoff the loan ASAP, before moving on to the next property.There are costs that are true Expenses...tax, routine maintenance, utilities, etc. 

It's hard to give an estimate of what it will cost, as the costs vary widely depending on what needs to be done.

You mentioned buying with cash, so maybe you could even pay more in cash and they would allow a lower rate of coverage and less cost. "A

Each one has cost me an entire month of rent plus the cleanup and some repairs on 2 of the 3.So when it comes to rents, I would much rather price the house where I think its a good deal and will help keep a tenant long term than to get an extra $50 to $75 out of it and deal with the turnover.Not only is the cost a headache but the re-keying, re-listing, re-showing adds to the effort as well.So while I can see the profit potential in the bidding idea, I'm not sure its a good long-term model that you're going to really benefit from as much as you'd think.

Definitely not opposed to getting a professional, but not if it is going to cost a fortune.

Hi @Roberto Costa.  

May I ask how do you determine rehab cost as you said new investors overpay not knowing how to estimate rehab cost properly?