The mortgage banker should have never given you the green light to get the loan started.Its true that in the East Coast folks go from state to state and do commute 1 1/2 to 2 hr.

@Justin LaTorre Hi and welcome out of the BP shadows and to the light of discussions.  

@Erin Silva 10 days is light, you might need more, better do the plans right and specify what you really need done, you would need 2-4 revisions after the first set, which takes 3-5 days to re-do.

It seems that it is actually cheaper to rent than buy at the moment.I hope that we are missing something here and hopefully someone with experience in the Cape Town property market will shed some light on the matter.

I usually pick a color that hides most dirt like light brown.

Well we also had the unit up for sale & it had been a few days & they had enough warning that we were showing the apartments.

I hope that gives some light what wholesalers "ideally" do and benefits of having them in your team.Instead of rehabbers worrying about finding deals especially the new ones they can depend on wholesalers to do the marketing for them.

Or if the 2nd floor tenants are actually unreasonably noisy, send them a warning letter and then if no change, ask them to leave.That said, if you want to placate the first floor tenants you could have an "energy audit" by RISE Engineering where they look at the house especially in terms of heat loss and come up with a proposal to add insulation and other energy-saving features (and give you free LED light bulbs :).I'm not saying that insulation is the same as sound proofing at all.

Did it ourselves, I bought great looking Kitchen table and dining room table and patio table sets for SUPER CHEEP and spray painted the one set, Sold it all on craigslist after we had offer and made more money than what I paid for it.Also did same with sofa love seat for Living room. a couple of small side tables and moved and shot room from different angles moving lights and tables. and then reset furniture in the family room. and took photo's there. 

I'm by no means where I want to be, but I've been able to transition and keep the lights on.