There are several examples in the city where an investor bought a lot, had the custom design completed, and then marketed/sold at the "completed" price point - but construction did not begin until the sale.So for instance from one real example, the lot was bought for $875k and the final sale price to the end homeowner was $3.75 million.

Finally if you don't get anywhere you could bring it to small claims court.Good luck!

Perhaps you pay for materials, but pay them for their labor afterwards, once you are satisfied with the work.But if you are hiring a GC for a $50k rehab, then you can expect to pay in several tranches, say 6 x $8k with $2k upon final punch list completion, or something along those lines. 

(bridge loans, cash-flow plays, hybrids, etc) finally, you'll probably want to diversify over 2, maybe 3 sponsors that you trust. 

I've finally decided to get more active with my RE investing endeavors and make quality connections with people in this community, through meet ups, discussion forums, and mastermind groups. 

Finally, you can set a keyword alert for those cities, or other concepts you're interested in and be notified when posts that mention those words appear.

I finally convinced him to listen to one of my audiobooks (rich dad poor dad) which he did, and he seemed to enjoy it and became intrigued.

And-hold back a 10% retention until you get the final sign off. 

Finally, as far as I know one can still get equity out of the property through heloc

You may want to get your attorney or the sellers attorney involved to finalize this tenant issue but you should make sure that if Yuit get it under contract, make sure the contract is subject to possession at close of escrow meaning the seller is responsible for removing the tenant prior to you closing to grant you sole possession.You should also make sure you have a final physical inspection as buying sight unseen with an uncooperative tenant could result in major costs you are not aware of which could ruin the deal.