I reached out to RTR, they referred me to another contractor which gave me a bid that would increase the construction cost by 100K - or they offered to buy as is and I would take a 160K loss.It is terrible to fell this dumb!

We also do not allow the tenant to patch holes or touch up the paint, because they usually do a terrible job that takes longer and costs more to fix. 

I once bought a house that was so terrible of cat piss that you virtually couldn't go in without a respirator and I thought I'd have to tear out the subfloors to fix.

to your point, if you save up so that you're in a strong financial position, house hack a solid duplex in a decent neighborhood, make smart decisions, and hold it indefinitely, you'll be fine.conversely, if you have $0 and somehow start out with a risky flip, or borrow $20K and spend it all on a magic mentoring program, or buy a terrible property in a neighborhood you've never been to, you may not be fine.

Buying in a flood zone, especially A, in Florida, where it recently flooded would be a terrible purchase to me unless they are giving it away.

If this is a terrible way to proceed, then please let me know.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of terrible landlords out there, but deciding that you are victim of life's circumstances certainly won't improve your situation. 

On the other hand, if these are in terrible areas, you introduce a different kind of risk. 

I would be careful when looking at discount PMs because if they aren't making money, they likely have terrible systems in place for management. 

Especially their Texas properties in falls forthworth area is under terrible management.