This basically means that I cannot start renovations until after closing, so am I looking at late May?

Very quickly the major markets & players in those markets will become clear to you as we frequent these pages often.As for the concept of buying out of state remember that It's not really that complicated to buy out of state.

Since this one is a little quirky, allow me to elaborate.Here are the basic steps.Make sure that your property is in fact in Cincinnati. 

California charges $800 just as the basic filing fee for each LLC, and that almost always will include out of state LLCs as well.

,it’s a 1 acre+ “estate” with a circle drive, private entry gate, the whole nine - it basically has everything we want in a dream house after a few cosmetic updates. the location is better for work commute and rentals, but the surrounding area is less posh and we cant walk to restaurants and bars like our current location.

As long as you have the basics of being an agent down and are in a market where people are buying homes you shouldn't have much trouble listing your own flip. 

@Cory Harris I agree with @Ericka Grant Do one yourself and maybe she'll become more comfortable with the concept of REI.

For some basic education, this attorney's website is excellent, specifically this article about owner financing.

After a few attempts, you should have built plenty of knowhow to understand how to do some of these basic estimates yourself. 

Basically I don't want to deal with the red tape.