There are much better rental deals in Dayton anyway.Since you have contractor experience, I would go for #3 first.You should absolutely come to the Dayton REI Networking meetup on Oct 10.

For example in washington DC the properties are mostly equity plays where cash flow is very low, but you go 45 minutes outside of DC and you are in it for cash flow.

The in-store, in-stock laminates are cheaper versions of the made to order, at least these days and at Lowes.

So I'll put two appraisals in front of our appraisal department head honcho dude, a normal one and a low quality one, and let him decide which is more credible (obviously this also doesn't work if the first appraisal was credible, done well, and the value just isn't there) and which opinion of value we will use.

If you are selling something high-end, you're probably not going to get away with all low-end beige and gray. 

I am currently searching for my first property, but I am finding it a challenge to make it happen within 70% of the ARV(ARV found using the low end of comps).

The problem is that most agents don't want to run around and show you 30-40+ houses, put in a bunch of low offers just to find out you can't qualify down the road (not saying you can't qualify, but they don't know that)..

Mike,Your probably do title searches should be you absolutely will do them in this scenario just don't want to see you get burned.

Using that rate may be considered alright or it may be a little low and raise a red flag somewhere.

No management company is an expert with low end renters.