Hard to say what the real estate market around here will do right now, so it's hard to estimate how much money I will have to spend.I think Penticton is a great investment area as it is a popular and quickly growing retirement area for Canadians as well the surronding area has a strong tourism, wine, and natural resources industries. 

Texas naturally has very little red tape and is much more lenient with businesses involved in construction of new property. 

So naturally the market you are most familiar with will give you the best chance at success.

I find the best mentors in any field are found naturally.

So in the end, managing yourself will likely only save you about 15% and likely take you much longer than a quality GC.With full disclosure, I am a GC so a natural reaction would be that the above is bias and typically, you would be correct but I am ALSO an investor/developer and have hired many gc's and subs over my 15+ years so I also have seen it from the client's side too and can attest to the fact that managing a project without experience will cost you more in time, money, headaches too. 

Is it because they feel they have the upper hand due to my strict timeline or just because that is their nature?

Indeed, Salem has definitely been quite a popular pick here given its easier entry point and the nature of its location (I've also chosen it myself for these reasons a couple years back), but also in general the whole stretch that you mentioned has definitely been benefitting from the northward migration from more metropolitan centres like Boston.

Given the nature of what the neighbor reported, they might have done this up to 3 times (at different times of the day) to catch the tenant violation.

Although expensive in the metro areas, it has some of the most stunning nature I have ever experienced.

Depending on the nature of the reno, a payment/draw plan will be scheduled into the loan.