Even with the Mrs. handling the designs, it still had to be a $1million or more in that 2yr timeframe it took to finish. 

One more thing, I plan on spending 15-25 hours a week on the flip myself (I've designed & built a house for my parents & maintain my parents rental (their old house), so I'm pretty handy).  

Plus, their postcard designs are 10x nicer than anything I've ever gotten from an investor who is a "DIY" marketer...

Hi fellow BP members,I am just curious to see which of the below strategies you would find most attractive if offered to you, for raising capital

The price is an attractive one and so I can see the reason for their refusal.I spoke to my broker and he was accommodating to the idea of him being my agent and so it looks like I should be picking up the commission.  

With the investor, you might want to use some of the tools here on BP to lay out a professionally developed plan and show them that they could earn an attractive return if they were willing to carry the property.  

I plan on spending 15-25 hours a week on the flip myself (I've designed & built a house for my parents & maintain my parents rental (their old house), so I'm pretty handy).  

Do we invest in a 3-4 unit older home with good rental history but probably needs quite a bit of maintenance (and might not attract the best quality tenants at the rental price point) or do we go with a newer duplex that is basically turn-key but doesn't have a rental history because both sides were owner-occupied?

I am considering another, but the latest round of deals were not as attractive...

@Jay HinrichsWhen you think about it most of the existing housing was designed to be lived in and not necessarily designed as an investment like commercial properties or land developement are.