Its a little big for me but its the type of loan I would do with private money but of course we would be more expensive and want an equity kicker.

ALL of these issues can happen locally as well for sure, but if you learn locally the lessons are generally not as expensive. 

How much will you equity increase compared to your rehab and holding expenses. 

This is a lot more expenses that real estate focused software and you don't have to "setup anything" it just works for real estate out of the box.

Days on market are 80+ days on average, and many listings are reducing prices at least once while on the market.

@Socorro TempleYou could get hard money, but it is going to be very very expensive.

Retirement is still 25 years away.My total monthly expenses (not including maintenance) are $2500.

You can always start off by house hacking meaning you live in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible.

And it's expensive.

It sounds like your damage was more extensive and I think it would be prudent to have a plumber identify all the breaks and then involve insurance and have them confirm it is a covered expense and how to best proceed... a freeze like this has not come through KC in some years so I know a lot of people must have had to deal with burst pipes.