But I'll just add that to my "evaluation" - can I find a deal good enough to compensate for a slower recovery and potentially greater risk? 

This will give you a good enough estimate to determine whether to go see the property or offer to get it under contract before going into the property and doing the deep dive detailed scope of work.

Those that arent value dont seem like a good enough return to me, from what I have seen.

You are paying full market value.If you ARE having to put in money up front, that you may loose, AND taking the risk of buying a property that has questionable appraisals that you will be stuck with, then i sure hope there is enough upside and some good enough returns to make up for the risk.As for me, i am more comfortable having dozens (hopefully someday) of base hits with the cookie cutter provider than try to take the risk finding the grand slam with a property that i have to put an extra $25k into because the bank doesn't think its worth it.Then again, if you are comfortable with the downside and you are confident that it will give you the returns you seek, then go for it.

With that many properties, I'd imagine you are making good enough cashflow that you can do this?

Most people will just say to use the average cost per square foot as a way to estimate rehabs, and this may be good enough of for you. 4.

A tower fan is likely not good enough though and you should really just load up on some oscillating fans if you do not end up going the portable AC route.  

the best place I've found for pricing estimates like this is diyornot.com. they break down the material costs and labor by your zip code and provide you with step by step instructions for how to diy a project if you choose to. it doesn't sound like you are interested in that but the costs they provide with labor are pretty close to quotes I've gotten from contractors in the past. the prices are updated fairly regularly too.it's a great place to start to learn costs for a project until you get good enough to estimate them on your own.

there are threads on this company.. from what I read in the threads they charge 2500 or more to sign up with them with NO promise of funding... then they charge some amount of money to underwrite each deal.. so its concievable you will be out 3 to 3500 before they say they will do the deal.. although they say you get a rebate when you use them to get your dough back.. from what others have posted.. they paid the money and the deals were never good enough to fund from do hard moneys side of things and they blew the dough.but there are others that have posted that they indeed funded loans for them at 100% .. from what others have said there rates are quite high as you would expect with this kind of arrange mentsyou may want to google   Gorilla capital in Eugene Ore.. they have a quasi 90% program.

You have to decide whether or not those returns are good enough for you.