Get a strong pre-qual letter with an investor oriented and experienced lender (some of the best I've met on BP) and have a contingency plan.

It was vacant at the time and I foolishly didn't account for contingencies.

Request that your attorney include that contingency clause  in the PSA.

I then include a letter from the lender indicating a pre-approval for the funds.This way the offer looks good (no extra contingencies), but is completely transparent with the financing details.

It's important to approach this as a business and explain your plan in great detail anticipating any concerns with a contingency plan already in place.

What does the contingencies process look like ? 

Effective communication, detailed contracts with specific timelines and payment terms, and regular progress updates are also vital.Additionally, we now have a contingency plan in place, which includes having backup contractors in mind in case we need to make a change quickly.

Perhaps a family law attorney opens back up the divorce case and pursues the ex to judgment, perhaps a real estate litigator gets involved on a contingency basis or even deferred hourly if he/she can pursue treble damages for fraud, etc.… who knows.

The difficult part is that many times renovation costs run over - some people add another 10% to 15% contingency on top of their budget on paper.

If you already have a property under contract or have a property in mind that you see as 60k all in you should build in 10-15% in additional costs as a contingency fund because things happen.