As soon as their lease expired I rented it for $1,500.I finished the rehab, started working on refinancing, and hit a road block.

It's really block by block in the area you're looking.

Just had that happen in your neighborhood an a case where I am the PR.What a pain for the buyer because more eyeballs are in your deal, pub may be required, and it's subject overbid, as my buyer learned to his disappointment.

B) a hard money lenderI would get a bank loan but the process is proving to be a pain.

Take it block to block - colleague me and fill me in on your operation methods to see if its for you.

We knew of two gun shot incidents within a few blocks and also had a break-in.Both places we had neighbors that have been there for 20+ years without issues.Things also get worse in a hurry as you get north of Plymouth Ave.

there are a few ways to do it... 1. if you get a construction loan, you can close on a house that needs repairs. higher cost and bigger PIA (pain in ***) factor with legalities2. if you pay cash, obviously no need for any of that3. some banks will allow you to escrow the repair cost which are around 120% of the highest contractor quote. then you get it back.I could not close on one house because 3 bundles of shingles were blown off the roof of the garage. so they said "fix the roof or you can't close on the loan". the bank said "No, we are not fixing it". so i bought 3 bundles and spent 2 hrs. called the appraiser back and closed on the house.i will do it whenever i need to in order to close

We have a rental a couple of blocks farther away from downtown/campus, (ours is ~6th St;  East High is ~4th St) and there aren't many students in the neighborhood. 

I hit a home run with the duplex I'm living in now as far as location and neighborhood, so the wife and kids don't want to go anywhere.My duplex is one block from the Columbia River with some great walking/biking trails that run the length of the river through most of Richland and the kids' school is one block in the other direction.

I spent 8 years in the service industry and feel your pain!