Best part was after the clients saw all the work we had to do to get rid of the bird, bird nesting debris, spray disinfectant, and repair all the voids to the exterior of the home to prevent this from happening again they never questioned my now exorbitant labor intensive bill.

Even though they are a private business, they get money from the City of Oakland, the City of Berkeley, and HUD - to "prevent homelessness".

The unfinished tile area only has one thin ply nailed to the wall.My opinion: Preventative measures are warranted as far as the potential for mold.

I had to file Chapter 7 2-3 years ago to prevent my lender from auctioning my house the next day.

As for the other, I don't know your area but maybe get an inspector or mentor involved to help with your investigations and search… you will learn the major things to look for as you get experience but until then get a pro to help and prevent some of the mistakes that many of us wish we had prevented :) Good luck to you!

My main struggle or conflict is how to start with very low funds, and I will soon have my own personal mortgage/loan, so I'm afraid it will prevent me from getting another loan to try my first flip.

If the basement leaks, but there is a drain in the center which typically prevents it from flooding up, would you add a $1000 sub pump anyways?

And prevent damage.

Should you ever decide to rehab an out of state property before renting it, I'll link to a blog post I wrote on the topic of my first out-of-state rehab: more specifically, about the issues I ran into and how they could have been prevented.

I don't know that they can prevent the owner from renting it (maybe they have the right to disapprove all tenants in that case) but they Do have the right to restrict the occupant from common amenities (pool, gym,etc).