Is there enough margin here for a flip, or would this be better as a long-term rental?

Side note: My husband and I are currently funemployed (we both have seasonal jobs) until October, so not sure if we could qualify for traditional re/financing options at this time.

I am willing to pay this 144,000 - although I am sure the original mortgage is less.

This is happening.Thin skin is akin to being emotional in real estate; they are tied together.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can maximize the wealth of information available: Check out the blogs and podcasts, or take advantage of the search feature (magnifying glass).

This can be fairly straightforward, depending on your agreement and if a partnership return was ever filed, you'll want to report half or your portion of the basis in the property as well as half the sale price minus expenses.

I really like the Nokomis area a lot - if you're looking at holding onto this one as a rental for a while, I'm sure you'll see some nice appreciation in the coming years too.Just curious, but did you do the full renovation after closing on it, or did it come pretty much turnkey for you? 

This statement - "Open to any state as long as I can make money and grow" - means you are too open to other's opinions and not focused enough on where you want to be.

In my small city (70,000 or so) we have a university with about 20,000 students with a nursing school, hospital, and obviously several mid size employers that I’m sure have people travel into this area for business purposes.  

Also the information provided and the links are extremely helpful.