Thick paint will clog and ruin sanding belts very quickly.Take some time to practice with the drum sander on a piece of plywood. 

I communicated this with Suncoast and they failed to do anything about it.2 - During the vacancy period the AC was not turned on however the blower was on blowing hot humid air all over the house and causing ridiculously expensive power bills.

And yes, it is tough getting that first one under your belt but don't give up on yourself or your dreams.

Even though this would be a misinterpretation on their part, the language and style of your response would also be partially to blame for facilitating the misinterpretation.Perhaps a more responsible and helpful way to make the same point would sound something like this and elicit no controversy:  ""Having been in the business for many years and with several properties under my belt, I have found the following percentages to be relevant to me and my market...8% vacancy8% repair7% capex10% managementPlease understand that your chosen market may and probably does differ, for instance repairs and vacancy may be higher if you're dealing with rougher asset classes, labor costs may be higher in luxury markets, etc. 

It wasn't until after that I learned that there's nothing that forces them to work with me and if they simply wanted to sell the property there was nothing ultimately stopping them.So now I have a BK on my record, and my only options are full reinstatement (approx $260k in arrears, which is not an option), deed-in-lieu where I'd get my monthly payments back (approx $45k), OR I can try to pay back the arrears monthly over the next 5 years (4 now since it's been a year since my BK).My question to this group is this; should I walk from the property and hold only the $110k from not paying my mortgage I have saved + the $45k I'll get back OR should I try to keep the property which is valued at somewhere between $980k-$1.1m, and make payments of approx $10k a month over the next 4 years.With my income, my fiance's income and 1 roommate we'd bring in,  we can afford the $10k if we tighten our belts a bit, though it's definitely high.

I just started renting out the front unit on a medium term basis and combined with the long term rent in the back unit, I about break even right now, but could hope to cash flow around $200/month (on the conservative side) once I get more reviews and stays under my belt. 

I have heard people reference the "rust belt" which generally refers to the northern states and lower which have a lot of industry, and who's main business is or used to be steel.

I would only have them manage the Reno if they had many completed projects under their belt.

Until you have at least a half dozen of these under your belt, it's best to hire a General Contractor and let them run the job and the subs.

We've got one successful flip under our belts and are ready to build off of that experience.