I would probably lean towards an engineering or business degree.  

I also believe in having the rainy day fund accumulate for the eventual repairs and larger lifecycle replacements. 

Of course you could always supply that equity initially and replace it with a mezz note once the primary note is in place.

I am a full time civil engineer in the Kansas City metro area and trying to become a real estate investor.

Once he replaced everything there were zero bubbles.Best of luck!

However, if the numbers are on the tighter side then forcing the repair might be a good option to use and still close the deal.I would assume that if you were able to get responses from a number of others on the site they would probably say things like I am going to list here.1) Problems can seem small and simple at first but grow larger in a hurry - it happens.2) Depending on the type of shower/tub installed in the above unit it may be more than a simple fix and get into much more money than you think - you won't know until you open the ceiling for sure.3) After the plumbing repair you could be looking at mold potentially in the joist spacing area between units.4) Depending on the length of time the issue has existed and been patched to get by you may also have damage to the wood - joists between units and or sub floor issues under the upper unit tub/shower.5) If there is insulation between the two units, you may have soaked and degraded insulation that needs to be replaced as well - good news is that rock and insul are cheap to replace.6) OR......... you may have someone open it up to fix it and its just a simple plumbing issue and is a quick and easy fix - totally possible too.Just as an illustration, I went to replace a bath faucet for an accountant friend of mine yesterday.

Reasons for differences in take-off orders from a set of engineered drawings/plans?

This is where you replace the "???"

I suggest consulting with a local geological engineering firm to evaluate the options available for that specific site.The choice of foundation vs. crawl space depends primarily on two things as I see it, what is the market there and what is the structural fix for the soils.  

Note I'm not contemplating repairs / maintenance type stuff, such as sewer mains or 1) Moving a home to a new location (as in so expensive you're nuts to contemplate it)2) Replacing / significantly changing external look / structural elements / adding a story3) Replacing vinyl siding with full brick or stone all the way around4) Replacing old heating (baseboard radiant) with new, such as a heat pump and forced air5) Updating Kitchens6) Updating bathrooms7) Replacing floors (like carpet to hardwood or stone)8) Updating fixtures9) Painting