Now, I obviously don't expect every property on the MLS to be a great deal, but does this also reflect that of other markets?

This will give you a good foundation on what to expect.4.

I have not broken the lease in any way.

Because of communication and real expectations.

This way you don't get nickle and dimed by the contractor and bleed dry of your working capital before a single shovel has broken ground. 

Here is a list of items that a hard money lender would like to see:Project Financial Analysis - Breakdown of your financial analysis for the project showing your ARV, Repair Costs, Buying Costs, Holding Costs, Selling Costs, Financing Costs & Projected ProfitRepair Estimate - Summary of Repairs broken down by CategoryProject Scope of Work - Detailed breakdown of all Estimated RepairsComparable Sales Data - Comparable sales analysis of at least 3 similar, recently sold compsProperty Photos - Photos of the existing property conditionYour Resume - Your resume of past experiences, & action plan for the projectI have uploaded a sample Investment Presentation in my fileplace as an example:https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/drobertson/file/sample-rehab-investment-presentation-for-lender

Also expecting monthly expenses to be much lower.

I welcome general questions, but to be expected cannot answer fact specific questions online.Thanks for heads up @Tim Swierczek

I don't want to waste anyone's time, so I want to know if my expectations are realistic. 

With no income...just cost.How many months would it take to recover $60k...which is what you need to do before you show any profit...and before you mention appreciation, you get the same appreciation whether you pay this way or the minimum.At $18k/y cf (after payoff), it will take you over 3 additional years before you start making a profit...that's actually close to 8 years from when you start the early payoff.B - If you put 20% down (about $24k), that was cash, and you had positive cf (on average) for the full term (let's say 20 more years), the cost of this property to you was $24k.If you had $500 positive CF without doing this early payoff, or $6k/year, you would have broken even at the end of year 4...and you would be profiting.Let the tenant buy the house for you.