Also neighborhoods with nice margins for rentals are getting harder to find as Ypsi overall has seen significant price increases over the past few years.

Atleast right now (from the contractors quoting around $80-$100 a sq ft to build) there's a bigger margin in building from scratch and using the property as a buy and hold.

Look for states that are landlord tenant friendly and require less maintenance to the assets (more warm belt states), and lower property taxes with a decent mix of rent to purchase price ratio.Low income tenants you tend to get very little appreciation of the asset and area is marginal.

The margins are a bit tighter here than other markets as the price per square foot is so reasonable and affordable, so make sure you buy at a great price!

They might still allow for a little profit margin even if its not stated but if the job ended up costing 200k then there will most likely be a judgement.If the words cost are truly what was mentioned then the savings should be passed onto the llc. 

Big profit Margin for selling or do i hold for cashflow?

My two main problems seem to be:-Finding an off-market property to maximize value + potential margin-Providing a realistic projection of renovation and financing expensesI'm confident that I can tie the remaining loose ends together to deliver a compelling proposal, but obviously I need to present real numbers/properties so the lender can evaluate whether they want to move forward with me.What resources would you guys suggest (books, articles, BP posts/products) to help educate myself before taking action?

I think that number depends largely on which side of Hopkins you are on.You also don't have a ton of margin built in, so if your ARV is too optimistic, or you have a surprise during the renovation, your final investment number is going to up.

I figured it was a teardown - and i needed to have room for margin of error. also our market appreciation helped by the time i am done with the flip, the price went up another 20K.

To be successful, you will have to find incredible deals, so that there is enough room for another investor to purchase the contract from you, and still have margin left to hit their numbers.The easiest thing to do is to work backwards from the 3rd party investor's point of view.