There was so much water that it seeped all the way over to our side of the basement (it only houses our oil tank and furnace and is accessed through the outside so we don't go down there much in the summer and didn't know it was wet). 

It is currently raw land with no improvements. 

Cost per sq ft for a project for improvements is hard to manipulate because labor and construction costs are up.

My advice is fix it up as much as you can with as little money as you can (clean, repair, do yard work, make lipstick improvements, paint but don't paint yourself into another corner haha) and get out of this deal as soon as possible.

While these aren't as good as having access to the MLS, they can get you pretty close.

I am currently working in Louisiana as a rope access welder.

One of the cool things about this asset class is that you can force the appreciation by making improvements and raising lot rents. 

But BP did publish a book that could serve as a good primer to improve your knowledge and get you off to a good start: The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs. 

@Gary Marcus you can improve your buying power exponentially by using the heloc as cash for down payments on multiple properties .

What I find is that the banks just want too much money for houses that need too much rehab.Is there some way other investors are getting access to properties that aren't on the MLS, or these common sites I mentioned?