He swears the key was having the right name, so he pulled the trigger on it.  

Hey Bigger Pockets,I'm from the Chicago area, but as I should be leaving in the near future I have not pulled the trigger on any properties.

Or you could hold, rent and pull cash out against the property.

We were very very careful to make sure this wouldn't happen because of all the interest in the property and it's common for people to pull these shenanigans to get a property under contract and accepted for a ridiculous price and then later back out and reduce the offer for the "appraised value" so we wrote a special clause into our counter proposal.On top of all this the roofer that I had hired took my $1k and ran off with the material money and also hired and scammed another roofing company that tore off the existing roof.

I've never had to pull permits and stuff for simple repairs, cosmetics or updating, but I'm not in MD.  

We bought it and I spent the next 4 months working on a complete gut renovation of the house, living in a tent out back, begging friends and family to help hang drywall, pull nails from the oak flooring we salvaged from another local home days before it was demolished, or carry in the concrete counters we made out in the driveway.

There is no formula you should use, but before you pull the trigger on a purchase, you should do all your due diligence to determine the ARV. 

In the past I have determined the basis by pulling 5-6 comps within a 2 mile radius and documenting my 'math' that arrived at that basis (similar to an appraiser's table.  

Does any one have success with pulling public records for probates that have a quit claim deed with a death certificate attached?

So money right now is now issue, however who knows how long I can put up with having a roommate so I want the flexibility if things get tight down the line, say I purchased a property, etc.Would it be worth pulling out all the money I can on my house or better off just leaving some in equity?