If you know the area well, drive there regularly anyway, and have on the ground help, that's all huge.  

I will check into BP regularly seeing that my pockets are not big enough. ;-)

@Cory E.If it really was a flip, i.e. property bought, fixed and resold - you would have been taxed much harsher: regular income tax + self-employment tax.

If you don't hear back in a day or so I'd call back.Lastly if you get them and decide it is worth checking out do that and you can say that before making an offer you want to look at it again with your contractor to get an estimate for any work you want to do, but say that this is in lieu of a formal inspection and you offer will waive the inspection (assuming going through with a contractor is good enough for you to waive a regular inspection).  

Yet in my area people regularly say and EMD is required.

Attorneys who work with private lenders regularly are very familiar with all the requirements of the state in question, plus the usury laws, reporting requirements, etc.  

Just a thought, particularly since most of those scary people in the war zone areas have weapons of their own...and use them regularly!

Welcome to BP @Erin Swann  You might want to start with the BWI meetup group next Wednesday in Columbia. a lot of members here show up regularly. 

We will need at least one way to contact you for immediate needs and at least one way to contact you for routine correspondence."

@Curt Davis   Who do you go to for the refi, credit union, regular bank, any conventional lender?