At that point we hired an independent appraiser and the numbers came back good and the hard money lender agreed to use them.  

No other money has ever gone into it, and none has ever been taken out of it.

And yet, after all expenses, he would have barely made a few thousand dollars.So, despite the 62% appreciation, he still lost money.

Thanks for the replies.Yea I didn’t take any of the grant money from the sonyma loan.

Avantstay's services cost money because they provide value.

The predicament we are in is the property is not in the condition to charge that much for rent and we would also leave a lot of money in the deal once we refinance if we cannot get in there to fix it up.

If you're still interested, take a trip to the site once ground has been broken.The flashy marketing material for a new development is great, but don't put your money at risk for something that's likely to vaporize.

It really becomes a time value of money calculation based on when you want to sell your Class A rental.

Let them know you are shopping and tell them to give you their best offer (all on the same day), and state you will go with whomever can save you the most money. 

But rule number 1 and 2 in investing is don’t lose money.