Many homeowners tend to invest a lot in the makeover options and still they don’t get the results they were looking for.

I think a conservative accountant will tend to tell you to 1099.  

When dealing directly with sellers, as the investor, the best approach is to get bits and pieces of information prior to the meeting, and then once they've seen and met you and you've verbally expressed interest then say something to the affect of "I'm seriously interested in buying your property, but before I can make you an offer I need to review x, y & z.The process of working the seller in this way takes a little more time, but you'll find the information tends to flow more freely after a) they've met you and b) you've expressed interest in making an offer.

Also, tends to be blackmagic..

They tend to give money faster than a bank but they also have short time horizons and high interest rates.

They also can't underwrite, process, originate, or fund loans in general.Thankfully there is a smaller company with branches in your area that has something like "funding" or "mortgage" or "lending" right in the company name that does exactly one thing and tends to do it pretty well.

It seems hugely populated cities with less housing tend to have tenants who will be willing to live in a situation like that.

The people who know the market the best tend to get the best deals. 

They tend to be a shorter term vehicle to get you to a point of stabilizing point with the property improvements.  

I get that as well.. to most its seems like an unconscionable profit.. and by giving example like this we tend to delude beginners into thinking they can be as good as you ... when in fact your probably pretty accomplished and most beginners could not do anywhere nears as good as you.I get it with Hoarder houses I bought two this year with stunning equity in them.. but they were also filled to the rafters with crap and stunk so bad you could not enter without a bunny suit ..but homes that need little to no rehab and are bought for 100k under market.. that gets a little much in most peoples book.