For example the creditor takes you to court and brings in a wet ink note signed with a ball point pen in black.

I want to learn how to leverage my credit (singe my credit is high and my capital is low) to build a rental inventory.The problem is that I'm plumb ignorant and have a lot to learn (and could use as much hand-holding as possible to get the ball rolling). 

As for your project...I wish I could help but as you can see our deals are in two different ball parks size wise and financially.  

Can you suggest a way to get the ball rolling to build up some capital to work with (or recommend a specific resource I should review from BP)?

This is my first rehab project outside of the home that I live in and I am pretty excited about getting the ball rolling and starting out. 

They low ball you in the beginning to get started and they know they can squeeze you more after the work gets started.I never do a contract with release of liens and all that, but I dont use someone new for a big project.

Using price per square foot based on similar properties at a similar level of rehab gets you in the ball park objectively.  

The seller agreed to our price but when it came down to negotiating the actual details during attorney review he became a royal PITA and wasn't willing to play ball.

I understand that I also dropped the ball on this as I probably assumed that such common items were built in to budget estimates. 

After years of playing, I habitually- usually when I’m hungry- drop the ball.