@Adam VendittiI am with @Andrew Freed on keeping the home. 4 green house & 1 red hotel, as Robert Kiyosaki says… that’s the path/game if you are looking to build wealth.

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.

Many investors will run into one of two major issues when growing their business; DTI limits and Fannie/Freddie slots available.