I almost made the mistake but listened and saw it all go down, they will destroy everything, steal your water tanks, furnaces, fixtures or anything that they can get a dollar for!

Then there was an underground oil tank that needed to be removed.It took a lot of work and many months to clear all the hurdles and close on the property. 

Property: The place looks like it's in good working condition (new boilers, oil tank), but needs updating especially to the kitchen cabinets and oven.

If you do buy in the area, I suggest pulling your AC, Furnace and H2O tank each time it goes vacant.

My thinking is that better quality borrowers would result in fewer defaults when the economy tanks.

It's shark-infested waters, to say the least. 

Then the market began to tank before it was done, and killed the possibility of refinancing out of the construction loan.

If the local economy tanked and I could not rent any of my houses I would obviously go bankrupt. 

**  Is this something an investor might consider in order to lock in a profit earlier in the process and avoid the risk that the market tanks while the renovations are ongoing and/or the house is mispriced and languishes on the MLS?  

If the stock market tanks and interest rates go negative and a greater than ’09 housing crisis hits and unemployment goes to 30% and paying renters become impossible to find, I could always go back to work and receive high wages under any economic conditions barring something out of The Road by Cormac McCarthy.