I think there's a right time for everything regardless of the market, you just have to pick your spots and make sure your projections hold up.

I'm hoping someone out there has done a similar deal and can shed some light on the blind spots that I'm not thinking about. 

This is what he wrote:To give you a basic idea of what's going on, I'm dealing with some shady **** with my current lender which has put me in a tough spot.

I am less focused on the target audience but I am curious to see whether or not people prefer to handwrite or type their letters, whether they keep them short and sweet or go into detail on what exactly they do. 

Don't make any decision on the spot and don't make any commitment on time frame.

The last sentence above is spot on.

In my journey, if my wife had not kept her steady W2 while we were starting out then it would have taken us a lot longer to get to the spot we are now. 

I rented to the couple that actually brought their checkbook; they wrote me a check on the spot for first, last, security and credit check.

Clean the surface good, then  make spot repairs, and finally apply a healthy  elastomeric coating on top.  

That is the sweet spot to flip and make cash.