Long Distance or Local are you looking at ground up construction and new construction as a strategy?

Hopefully, if a "friend" asked to borrow money from you, you'd check if he had the disposable income to pay you back.As for your accountant, that's up to you. 

I would tell him that if he does work without permission again you aren't going to pay for it and then follow up with an email so you have it in writing. 

If you have any outstanding debt, pay it off ASAP!

@Sean LeonardLotsOf scammers in tax liensFor pennsylvania make sure to understand upset sale vs judicial sale.Don’t want to buy an upset sale thinking getting property only to have to still pay the mortgage lender

Or you can pay someone, like myself, who does architectural drafting to do the drawings.

My non-paying tenant finally got evicted by the sheriff yesterday and I am looking at advice to rehab and keep or rehab and sell.

By the time you’re paying those inflated rates you should already have 10 golden ticket loans.

You said you live in the house, so if it is for personal use only, that might play into the decision, and/or if you have a lot of room in the deal financially and have enough to pay for the higher priced, possibly better GC, that might be part of the decision also.In my experience, higher price doesn't always mean "better," but may mean more attentive and experienced and more and/or better resources (like better sub's, etc). 

If you find a new tenant, prorate any fees they pay you so you are not collecting 2 rents on the same day.