I am having a hard time figuring out how to get a wholesale property inspected or repair costs verified by a general contractor before I put it on contract. 1) First difficulty is finding a good contractor to look at it before it's under contract since the good ones I know wants it to be on contract first. 2) The second difficulty is what if someone else puts it under contract while I am still having it looked at?

HelloI am looking for a General contractor (licensed and insured) to help us with a flip for a single family in 21209 zip code.

However, you have to realize that lenders are in the business of lending, not selling houses or managing contractors. 

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

I am a contractor here in the Bay Area so ideally we would like a fixer upper.

I'd like to put around 70k into it, of course I need to take my contractor over there and get an estimate and run the numbers, but I'd like to get the property for around 100k and they are asking 185k, but I don't think it's worth that.

You have to make sure your both Loan Officer and Contractor are on the ball with things!

If they are truly in love with it, are enjoying their life in that home, and intend to die there then no amount of money is going to separate them from that house. 

I've outlined various ways people can enjoy investing profitably, here is a sample spreadsheet that you may want to consider:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/600/topics/58...

I recently sold my first "for sale by owner" and enjoyed the work so much that I am in the process of pursuing my real estate license.