On very dirty grout they dont work and lets not fool ourselves into thinking we are all chemists.

Hi,@William Johnson a big thanks to you for this story .It is really great it shows your dedication and respect towards your work keep doing that good work  and keep posting such interesting and valuable story with us.

They each rent for 1k and she won't take less than she owes plus closing costs.I just need someone to tell me to stop working the numbers until the numbers work and move on.Thanks!

Give them the exact same scope of work and check multiple references, insurance certificates, NARI or other memberships, standing with the contractors license board, any pending litigation, etc.

Split everything down the middle and see where it takes you.I actually disagree with this approach...Part of running a business is having as much control over each aspect of the business as possible (even if you delegate the actual work and don't do it yourself).

But thats really what it typically takes for the cash flow numbers to work and what I need to hit as a buy and hold investor to make my numbers work.

I am planning on visiting the property this weekend and hoping to have a GC provide me with the scope of work and rehab estimate for the property. 

I love the DIY, self motivator and financial independence dynamics it can afford via hard work and commitment.

Our hope is that as we complete these rehabs, our completed work, and the increased value, will also increase the potential value of future work by bring the value of comps up.Sorry for this giant wall of text.

You can get an HML to agree to lend you X amount of dollars on a particular property, but if it needs, say, 15K in rehab, you have to be able to come up with that 15K outside of the HML, do the rehab with it, and then the HML will cut a check to you for 15K after you've completed the work and the HML inspects the work to his/her satisfaction.