If the owners can't cough up the assessment then there are big problems.It is important to find out what percentage is non-owner occupied and if that prohibits some financing companies from loaning.

His quote on the crawl space : "Great crawl space hasn't been wet in a very long time.

Whatever you use, you have to be realistic and expect that the floor will get wet. 

@Jordan Morrisa Also, consider finding a title company that can do closing documents without wet signatures as well.

This is a crazy time what with lowering prices vs higher interest rates....but you could still find the perfect house if you get creative and think outside the box.Having said that if you are new to this, it could be a bad time to get your feet wet.

.#2 Partner with Someone that Has Construction ExperienceTo get your feet wet, you could partner with another house flipper, contractor or construction professional that could help with Estimating Costs.Note: In a partnership, both parties need to bring something to the table...If you don't have construction experience, what experience or skills can you offer to the partnership?

Let them know that you already have "wet-funds" in place.

Keep studying, reach out to a PM company if that's where you interest lies, anything that would help you get your feet wet would be advantageous for your growth. 

I rented a small cabin to a wet nurse for around 2.5 weeks once. 

The points made here apply equally well to flips with the added point that miscalculating the ARV (or having the market move on you between purchase and sale) can prove ruinous.The key takeaways IMHO are as follows:Taking on RE projects without sufficient capital is a sure fire way to lose money (unless God is on your side for some reason)Picking a RE investment is even harder than picking a stock because you do not have an even relatively efficient market pricing these assetsThe risk number (like the "easy button" in those commercials) just doesn't exist - the concept of "risk-adjusted return" is often no more than wetting a finger and holding it in the air