You'd be surprised how many "hauntings" turn out to be natural gas leaks, they cause feelings of dread etc.

When interest rates increase demand eventually declines, but we're still in the fear of missing out stage.

In that time, we moved, kept it as a cash flowing rental and the property has increased in value from 85k to 200k.

Would you ask for a non-refundable pet deposit and increase rent or just one or the other?  

By doing this, you will hopefully have increased the value of the property in excess of your purchase price plus the repairs you put into it. 

My project manager/mentor was advising me on the deal and kept insisting that I should gut and remodel the entire place because its value will increase tremendously.

We can afford to eat the mortgage payment, but would rather not of course considering we started down the REI path to build wealth and increase cash flow, not dent our wallets. 

If there aren't many people interested in the property, a wholesaler would have to consider an offer that has an inspection contingency otherwise they risk holding the property longer than they anticipated.However, if you're in a hot market (and who isn't these days), you may be competing with people who are willing to go after the property so aggressively that they drop all contingencies; this would represent less risk to the wholesaler of the buyer backing out so naturally they would likely choose this offer over yours with contingencies.If you're finding that all deals you're coming across do not allow contingencies, it may be valuable to spend some time learning how to expertly predict repair costs on your own so you can determine if a deal is a good one without paying for inspections before getting it under contract. 

Once you build a relationship with them through multiple loans they'll increase the percentage up to the full amount.  

(On a more general note, I am becoming increasingly interested in real estate investment and am enjoying this hobby!)