Btw, I plan on using direct mail, door knocking and cold calling to reach potential sellers.  

Since there's so much potential equity in the deal, we'll likely do the 3.5% down with FHA and then refinance to a conventional to knock out the PMI, as we'll theoretically have over 25% equity in a year.  

For the inspection, simply post a notice and come at that time and let yourself in after knocking. 

I would go the contractor route for bigger jobs and looks for a local handyman or drywall/painter to knock it out. 

This loan was originally done in 2012 and the regular note was 1,368 per month but I was paying $2,500 a month to knock down the principal and be house note free sooner than later.

If you knock it all down and start over you will get to pay things like school fees that are based on square footage for all the square footage, rather than on just the increase. 

(and by the way they were always unfair....one time they put up all new brick homes with garages...when mine was a beat up wood house with no garage....I won that battle...got about $40,000 I think knocked off the value.) 

We set a timeline last year to likely sell this summer and now here we are.We think that the house will probably sell to a developer, who will knock it down and put up something bigger/better. 

After everything said and done, despite the mistakes we made, we learned more from the hard knocks than we could have learned from listening to 20 Bigger Pockets Podcasts.

Their website on this topic (https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/how-to-know-its-really-the-irs-calling-or-knocking-on-your-door) should provide some more context.