This one doesn't seem like he is going to go anywhere soon so why not roll with it and cash the checks?

By then you should have enough bank rolled that every flip you do can go to buying another rental.

I'd appreciate any thoughts anyone may have on the process, market, pre loan approval, and anything else pertaining to a first time investor.  

Look at tax rolls for ownership addresses that don't match the physical address you're looking at.  

.$15k rehab (it's always more than you think)$400 annual taxes (have no idea what the tax rate is where you are)10% vacancy5% OpEx10% CapEx10% PMThose are pretty conservative numbers, which is the way I roll!

I'm using the Rental Property Calc to determine if a listing is a good deal or not for a renovation loan.However, when I insert the Estimated Repair Cost that amount is added to the Total Cash Needed, when on a HomeStyle or 203k loan, that amount isn't cash I have to supply, but instead it's rolled into the new mortgage.Does this skew the results somewhat?

In my market I typically don't have an issue pre leasing units.

across clients i see a growing trend here in socal to post 3 days notice to pay or quit as early as the day after the rent is due, which is likely due to the currently crashing economy as well as since california law stipulates that the Notice cannot reflect any late fees, it makes sense to do just that from now on to start the ball (3 days rolling) towards UD. 

Very excited to get the ball rolling!

Most are pre foreclosure but a couple aren't.