Also, if you say no financial contingency, then what happens if after I get the property under contract and present it to my investors they start back-stepping,"In one breath you say you are fix and flipping but in another mention the phrase above which tells my you are a wholesaler of a contract and not a cash buyer.I don't know why people intermix the two.The difference matters to an asset manager.If you give them a quick close,no contingencies,cash in your bank account that you control valid within the last thirty generally you can get much lower offers accepted.Now it all depends on what type of property you are going after and they type of bank or government institution involved as to how much impact a certain strategy will have.

Rules you mentioned that ALL were teaching? 

If you don't mention your first home, it will likely come up in the process, potentially complicating things.

If I were to pay back the $100k principal plus, say $8k in interest in 2026, would both he and I report this interest expense/income on our 2026 returns only, with no mention of it on '24 or '25 returns?

@April BirdsongAs mentioned, material participation of $25k allowable deduction phases out between a modified AGI of $100k to $150k.You might be able to deduct some of the upgrades if they were smaller chunks.. maybe?

Not to mention before "my time" (i.e. 1970s / 1980s) when the city was truly on the brink and conditions were FAR worse. 

Regarding rentals, as @Stephen Akindona mentioned, buying turnkey doesn't net you a lot of cashflow or equity.

Can you link me to that blog post you mentioned?

Quote from @Deano Vulcano: Hi John, Here are the numbers: Purchase Price $101k/ ARV $205k/ Down payment $21k/ No rehab/ 785 credit score/ 30 yr amortizationThis may have already been mentioned, but how is the ARV over 100% higher than the purchase price with no rehab? 

Did someone mention "Toledo"?