The two year rule is that you must own AND occupy the property as your primary residence at least two of the five years prior to sale to exclude some or all of your capital gains from taxes.  

I'm wondering if any investors who started out as DIY'ers on their first properties (or all) pursued a builders license, did the work off the record or perhaps have any insight into the thought altogether? 

Anyone have any experience with Richard Neely Real Estate or All-Ways Agency? 

If you were addressing a different point then you should be more clear about your communication, because what you communicated originally describes something very different than what you are saying now.People love throwing around the "fraud" word or all to common "that's illegal" statement, and the truth is that they know nothing about the laws.Now I was sharing with you some basic guidelines of teaching and sharing with others, not because I am a lawyer, but because this forum is here to help people with accurate information.

The Parties acknowledge and agree that neither the Buyers nor the Sellers nor their respective Brokers/Agents have any agreements written or oral that will permit the Seller or the Seller’s family member to remain in the property as renters or regain ownership of said property at any time after the execution of the Short Sale transaction.

Off your very first flip you might have enough to cover part or all of your bad debt.

I don't know your market, but I'd bet the $400-$800 rent range is a tough market for a newbie to manage rentals in because the tenant class could be challenging and because maintenance, capex, etc. may end up eating a lot (or all) of your cash flow since there isn't a whole lot of rent to cover those items.

Could be anything from someone leaving a faucet on, bad ring on a faucet to a leak or all the copper was cut out.

You seem to always refer to those who were irresponsible investors, uneducated, foolish, or all of the above.

In Madison, you will be competing with 20% or all-cash buyers, especially for the first-day-on-market HGTV remodeled homes.