Also, we are a hard money lender so our guidelines aren't as strict as traditional lenders.

Honestly $10k is probably a pretty reasonable amount, just make sure you know exactly what work they will do for that amount and if it's your first time with that contractor get a few other estimates to compare.

Commercial real estate is very backwards compared to residential.

I'd also keep this in mind.For health insurance- I'd recommend having a chat with your accountant who can help you compare actual numbers and benefits vs. the theoretical which we are talking about here.Retirement Plans: This is a much smaller hurdle to jump over.

Here is the quick pros and cons on both.Gloucester: Pros -  Good tenant pool, strong schools, most houses have public utilities, consider the more desirable area of Sicklerville by the local populationCons - higher taxes, pulling permits takes the full ~21 days, higher home prices, overall thinner marginsWinslow:Pros - Lower cost houses, rental friendly township, strong demand for rentals, slowly up & coming in certain neighborhoods, lower taxes, overall fatter marginsCons - Lots of C and D neighborhoods and lackluster tenant pools, poor schools, the more east you get the more well/oil/septic you find, considered less desirable area of Sicklerville by the local populationBy the numbers both GC and WT have similar rent rolls only off by $100 to $200 depending on the house type, therefore Winslow you will net more but have a slightly riskier houseAgain this is just a general view, you'll want to look at each sub-division as there are massive swings within each twp (Ex: Brittany Woods compared to Cobblestone in GC)

In comparing Annapolis , AA county and PG county , plus DC .

Realize that if this has been lived in for 10+ years it would probably need some fixup to get a comparable price to recent sales.When I say you're wiped out I mean that your lien and another lien that is junior to the foreclosing mortgage is extinguished. 

Paul, if you were to expand to a comparable city/state with your business model, where do you think that would be?

I know that can pull the house out of the way and do a traditional slab/pit, but was curious if there was a better way.

Things like our own website, craigslist, etc don't generate a drop of traffic compared to what we get through the big two.I'm all ears.