If you are, its a longer game.

My thought was:1 - I put the down payment and assume the mortgage.2 - Contractor (no skin in the game at this point) buys materials to complete the necessary upgrades3 - When it is done we sell the property and subtract the down payment, material cost, mortgage payments, utilities, settlement costs - and then whatever is left we split.  

Joel, welcome to the game!

If you're in the flipping business then I think there is always the game of Russian Roulette involved.

For example, are you the kind of person where, if you invested a few/several thousand in a course, that'd you'd be motivated to the point of not failing because of that skin in the game?

As for purchase price, anything you can use to get a better price is fair game.

Game cameras are cheap and can give you other angles of the house on the super cheap.

I know the pains and struggles of the self-employed game, and I haven't used traditional financing for any of my properties, as I still haven't hit that 2-year mark.

Younger investors, or older ones without kids and parents and dogs and other such things can certainly choose to live in a duplex unit.I don't expect this to be a game changer, although I do expect that it will change the way ADUs are appraised.

. #1 getting deals is about making lots of offers and its a numbers game and offers have contingecies.