What are some red flags ?

If he lived in the same place for four years, that should reflect on his credit score.I think you've found enough red flags to justify denying them.

I had to work with them to dig a conduit ditch  8 feet deep to get a transformer added.

Green is good yellow needs to be looked at and Red is there is something wrong.. you simply walk in and pick up a copy of it on the counter..

You take on the role of digging deep into their pro forma and grading it like a teacher instead of writing the paper yourself. 

On the siding maybe do something like a desert tan with some red hue that’s a light warm and inviting design.

Most of them are also not very deep, leaving many situations unregulated.

Be wary and seek advice about everything before you dive into the deep end.       

That raises a ton of red flags to me.

Along with the Thousands of vacant lots in the ubran cores of the Rust belt and deep south cities that have been blighted but the lots and infrastructure exits .. problem is can you get people to live there ?