Im not sure if this is a typo, but I suppose it would be a bid war as its in a highly desirable are where they are mowing down houses in favor for 3 story townhouses.

NA NA Good market as in a complete "WAR ZONE" lol 

The inspector guessed it would take $200k to get it up to code.Conclusion: $175k down (bidding war is underway), $200k to bring it up to code, $75k for finishes.

If you've had no offers in 4 months on a house priced that cheap, either you are in a war zone, the house is a disaster, or there's absolutely no sales market.

I own my own numerous investment properties and have a general contracting license since I do renovations and it is required if you do more than 2 non owner occupied renovations in a 2 year period. 

Don't get into bidding wars and analyze the deal thoroughly with the BP calculators so you know exactly what you can offer to make it work.

If we get caught up in a bidding war, we start purchasing with emotion.

It's a great way to become involved with RE investing without a war chest of money.

Downtown Tampa is not a major residential area, and downtown St Pete is already built out and booming.For a major metropolitan area, Tampa Bay is decades behind San Francisco, Seattle, and other seaport cities when it comes to mass transit, and we are a culture of car-commuters.Having lived in the San Francisco Bay area (with extensive ferry service as well as numerous other excellent mass transit options) as well as the Tampa Bay area - one immediate problem I see here in Tampa Bay is the lack of transportation options once you get off the ferry (at $10 one-way) - riders will essentially be limited to walking around the two downtown areas, or taking a taxi/uber to get elsewhere - most would rather drive. 

(War zone).