Ideally you would have forced some great appreciation, too, so that your downpayment for the LT option actually uses the equity you built vs. your cash.

Beginners should start off on beginner terrain, where they actually have a chance to learn and succeed.

If you're going upscale in other ways, you can sometimes get away with cheaper side pieces, but if the chairs are going to feature prominently in the photos and design, a few hundred extra dollars are worth it. 

My goal is to actually live in the property and house hack 2 rooms while continuing to homeschool my children (ex and I are no longer together so living next door would be a very ideal scenario while raising the kids) once the repairs are done. 

Just to be clear conventional loan guidelines are just the standards set by FNMA to buy loans that have been originated, they don't obligate anyone to actually extend those loan terms to borrowers.

Hey Jennifer, I actually work with a company that does all of this.We (essentially) wholesale deals to OOS investors, connect them with our contractors, manage the rehab for them, and have a property management division as well.It's the whole A-Z operation and we did 200+ deals last year and more than 1/day this year.I'm not pitching you at all.

If there are missing pieces fill them in and you will hardly be able to tell.

@Eric DeNardoI had not actually thought about that aspect of it.

The rented house I got keys from the renter when he left.  2 houses had actual lock boxes, but no one would tell me the code to get the keys out. 

It's a tempting path, chasing after that quick cash without stopping to consider if you're actually solving a real problem for the seller.