I was not expecting two separate leads to come out of two outstanding locations within Ballard, which for those not in the know of Seattle, is a pretty desirable location.   

Your outstanding debt doesn't help either because your debt to credit ratio is bad since you have no available credit.

There are forums, webinars, podcasts, and of course several people with outstanding background knowledge on Real Estate.Good luck in your RE endeavors. 

Perhaps the assessments were outstanding and should have been paid (were owed) by the seller in the ordinary course of owning property subject to the HOA bylaws.

.(~5%) $5,200 in lender fees, (~4%) $7,800 for lender interest payments assuming a 6 month outstanding loan (~6%) $2,600 in holding costs like electric, gas and water. (~2%)All of these costs come to a total of $152,100 (including your purchase and rehab costs).

Are there outstanding taxes or water bills?

For the value of the remaining projects, hold on to that amount and be sure to save a reasonable amount to be paid upon completion of all projects to ensure that he sticks around to finish and that any outstanding items get corrected before you hand him final payment.

If you're in CA, and looking at CA prices and rents, a deal in the flyover states might seem really outstanding, and relative to what the CA buyer could get locally, would be a great deal.

I am considering pulling $200k out for investment in a new property.However, unless I find an outstanding deal I am most likely going to keep the cash on the sidelines for 6m to 2yr waiting for some correction in pricing.

If you're already invested with Chris and his team, then you have started in the right place, as they are really an outstanding operation with knowledgeable and experienced professionals.