Not all "full guts" are the same--we had based our estimates on a similar property but the city made us do more on this property which was the source of a good deal of the budget problem.

@Jay Hinrichs Thank you, I did read a bunch of books on remote rehab but instinctively it does scare me quite a bit and good thing you caught it. 

I'm starting to realize to just trust my initial instinct. 

We completely gutted the kitchen and bath down to the studs, revealing an old slow water leak.

As far as trusting someone, I know at some point we just have to go with our guts and take a leap of faith with whoever we decide to business up with as an agent/wholesaler/GC/PM/etc.Where abouts in East Bay are you?

If the possibility of an easy solution appeared to present itself, oh, he was all over that...but when it was grim work that had to be slogged through, my father would consistently waste incredible amounts of time looking for the easy way out instead of gutting anything out.The results were predictable.

I just had a 19-year tenant leave, and I pretty much had to gut the place the wear and tear was so bad. 

We completely gutted and rehabbed the house What was the outcome?

I am a local real estate broker and know in my gut the market is going to turn soon in our area so don't know if this is happening at the worst time or not.

They may never have had their guts cut out by recession keeping tenants unable to pay their rent, and over-leveraged owners with tons of vacancies unable to pay their mortgages and re taxes.