@Abel Curiel already nailed it...

She nailed it.

My favorite had been the apartment with polished concrete floors.

Spot on, as someone who has worked as project manager both for a fix and flip investor and for a A-rated(Better Business Bureau), Class A general contractor you hit the nail on the head, a true contractor (one can run his own business, schedule efficiently and effectively, not get in over his head and do all of this with a degree of professionalism) knows better than to finance a project, typically from being burned in the past.  

You hit the nail on the head. 

For the next week I met with a dozen or so realtors and ultimately nailed down a top 3 list to select one from.  

if you have a BS in finance you can forecast your student loans.... but nail down the cost of living.

I think I should go the partnership route, if the seller balks, then that will be the final nail in the coffin I think

I see this a lot in my area a flipper will buy a house make it all polished minus doing the mechanical right.So, they price the house higher then what other houses are going for.The appraisal is always going to be an issue.I just don’t buy flips because they never do it right.

@Ali Boone you really hit the nail on the head (esp re: people that have never bought TK but have dedicated their lives to trashing it lol).