Most of the folks selling or giving you advice here are selling an asset or being paid referral fees to sell that asset (nothing wrong- it is a business and they are providing a service or the asset itself).

I just don't want to join the herd and do what everyone else is doing because maybe they're all wrong and just following each other off the cliff.

Personal friend is a plumber and he uses a system of pressurizing the system and injecting liquid plastic to seal it all up - - 20 year warranttee.Here in our locale, slabs frequently crack due to soil expansion and when fixing one of these, we jack-hammer the interior and r/r all the plumbing at one time.

It's never worth buying wrong just to complete the exchange.  

That said, a quick tip for DIY parts replacement if you choose to go that route... if you're uncertain about what is wrong and opt to replace parts as the process of diagnosis, start with the least expensive part first and don't un-package the control board until you're absolutely certain you'll use it, as electronic parts are often not returnable if the package has been opened.Good luck!

Being a Contractor you will be able to very accurately account for all the renovation costs, which is where most investors in my experience do there due diligence wrong.

Of course I would do all my due diligence on any decisions made and would like to know if there's anything materially wrong with what I'm suggesting below.I am interested in buying a property that needs to be fixed up but is in good enough condition to rent.

As far as books and podcasts, you can't go wrong with BP!

I may have a tainted view of Hawaii as I am in the industry and working with the wrong people to be doing my fixing work.

However, using the 50% rule and checking out some online commercial loan calculators, I believe the deal could work, depending on what kind of interest rate I can get.Please correct me if I'm wrong.