And thank you for the words of caution - it's easy to get carried away with all these ideas, and the reason to actually engage on these forums vs. lurking is to give people like you and Jay the opportunity to express caution where it's needed.Thank you all again, I'm looking forward to learning more!

Do they look at this like one conventional loan since the properties are being grouped together for the deal or do they make you split up the loan between the properties, making each property carry it's own loan? 

The interest rate differential is the carrying risk of a defaultable private loan vs. a low rate non-defaultable, non-bankruptable, loan.  

. $100k purchase price with $30k in repairs plus carrying costs and buying costs would mean I would need $140k cash to do one deal.

You can also try to have the seller carry back a 10 to 15% second for less down.Not to be a downer but with you out of the country doing remotely it will be almost impossible in these markets to do what you are looking at.

In the west coast, there are a lot of cabinet stores that carry cabinets from China.  

Are you buying with a seller carried note on a free and clear property, or are you buying sub2?  

We aren't sure if we paint the area by the garages if we need to carry that color onto the front of the porch...  

Agree, best bet is to find a partner or see if the owner is willing to carry the note while you operate.  

Get the seller to carry financing.