But the ones that aren't stopped right away and get a head on them, when close to an urban area, with wind like this, will cause extreme devastation. 

And you need to keep detailed records of all repairs and improvements.

I find that cash flow is very important so that I don’t have to come “out of pocket” to pay for major improvements / repairs  

It’s great to hear you stuck to your plan and still came out ahead, even with a few bumps along the way.

Or enter "for repairs" and take photographs of expensive new stuff for court...but they may be paying down credit cards.

Class C and D areas/properties will always cash flow better on paper, but on paper things like extra repairs, turnover, evictions and such are often not taken into account. 

But what you will find is that most repairs are pretty easy - and if we don't want to mess with it we will call someone ourselves... but someone we know is going to shoot us a fair deal.

After a bit of back-and-forth on the repair costs, I negotiated it down to $69,000, convincing them the extent of repairs was higher than they initially estimated.

After a bit of back-and-forth on the repair costs, I negotiated it down to $69,000, convincing them the extent of repairs was higher than they initially estimated.

During times of uncertainty, lenders stop lending, or they increase underwriting requirements, or the property hasn't gotten to the "repair & rehab phase" and isn't "lendable" and so on and the DOS is called.