I own a house in Northern Virginia (Annandale) and have 200k in equity.

If they're filth is bothering you that bad and you can afford the hit financially boot em at the en of their lease. 

Once you have the hit list, contact a few contractors to find out what is their estimate to do the work required.  

If so, that may be a good average over 5 years but you could get hit with a 4k ac unit or worse your first year.

I have an Eskimo buddy in northern Alaska (Kaktovik) who tried to scare a polar bear away with a couple of rounds from his .45 shot into the air. 

I’m looking more in Genesee county vs northern Oakland, not Detroit proper.

We are also working on seller financing for part of the cost to lessen the amount needed to hit 20% as we don’t think it makes sense to pay PMI here. basically thinking ill make monthly payments to them over the next 2 years.

When properties hit the open market, they sell for market value. 

It doesn't matter where your reserves are invested just as long as you have access to them.Now, once you hit 10 loans...then you cannot receive any additional Fannie/Freddie type of money. 

To successfully perform a flip the house flipping company needs to Spend time & money marketing to distressed sellers to source a deal with a large profit potentialEstimate the ARV of the dealEstimate the repair costs of the dealDetermine if there is enough profit in the deal to make sense for a flipNegotiate a sales price with the owner of the propertyHire the General ContractorManage the renovationEnsure the renovation is completed on time & on budgetMarket & sell the property for the estimated ARV to ensure they hit the estimated profit marginAfter successfully doing all of that why would they then hand over the majority of the profits to you?