@Evan Polaski We laid out our payment schedule in black and white and made sure our contract includes approval for any changes to the scope of work ahead of time.

If it's drywall and you want it removed, it could be patched over and painted, if that's worth more to you than leaving it.If he had asked permission ahead of time would you have allowed him to do those things?

When you break up the home into sections and you know the costs in your head (or on paper) ahead of time, it is easy to add it up as you walk through.

That assumption is based purely off of Zillow's estimate so who really knows, but in any case,- Would it be wise to go ahead and obtain a HELOC on the property even if I don't plan on using it for awhile?

And/or bypass being an agent and go straight into investing with money saved up from that corporate career.

Sure there are people who ‘made it’ that may say “I’d like to give back, I’d like to mentor a young guy or gal”… but I promise you they’re going to look for the same traits in their mentee that they had- which, in part, was the willingness to work ungodly hours in order to learn and get ahead in life.

I agree with Jess Haas above that you need be ahead of landlord issues like where Airbnb is going to 30-day mins, etc., as well as ahead of the development trends by going to city planning meetings.

I have not seen many folks actually pull off a BRRRR with straight conventional financing, but maybe its possible...the renovation style loans work...or cash is always your best play.

Thanks for all your wisdom and experience ahead of time as I will be learning a lot.

The process was straight forward and the branch I used (Nova and University Drive in Davie) was very responsive to any questions.