The next door neighbors (it's a multi-family unit) are also very nosy and in close proximity.The comp down the street sold at around what we are asking, but it took 90 days or so.I calculated the cost of money, utilities, taxes, etc, plus the loss of potential earnings on not recouping the money, at around $4K a month.

That is don't just put it down and have equity that you cannot utilize.

Or if you know of any hard money lenders in the Las Vegas area I could utilize to acquire the property and get my foot in the door and then refinance the property with a conventional lender, rip the forced appreciation out from the renovation and repeat the process only next time I'll have capital to use a conventional lender from the beginning.

It is unlikely that the tenants pay all utilities so this would throw your numbers off.Have them provide you current rents or past rents if a unit is vacant and make sure you know what utilities you are responsible for.

All of a sudden I was floating $3K/mo in mortgages plus winter utilities and couldn't so I fell behind (perhaps I didn't have the saving you do). 

If you talk to the bank, their foreclosure or loss prevention department would probably know more than their regular customer service dept.

that is 50% of the sell no matter what exit strategy you utilize even a buy and hold. the amenities in the house, in addition to the neighborhood, will determine if its a quick flip or rental, imo. think of the holding costs. you don't want to hold it too long which will eat away at your profit...especially when you got funding from a HML.  

If you've seen some of my prior posts, you know that I am utilizing a 1031 exchange to defer taxes on some inherited farm land.  

I choose not to rebuild, so I had to pay to have the property razed and all utilities cut of to the property. 

It's about the owner, not the service/product or customer.