They can be close.

Try looking at it a slightly different way with some quick math:$900,000 sales price$22,500 cost of purchase (appraisal, points, lender fees, title fees, etc - 2.5%)$90,000 cost of sale (10% commissions, closing costs, buyer credits)$64,000 carrying costs (6 months at 10%)$25,000 additional carrying costs (6 months taxes, utilities, HOA, misc)$100,000 rehab cost (the number used above)$68,500 profit = $530,000 max allowable offer.Some numbers may be a bit high, others may be a bit low. 

It won't be 100% accurate, but it will be close enough.

I've not felt good at closing on any of them.

If you know you know) Welcome to the forum Jim, plus your a #1 advice giver on BP which is pretty close to winning a Tony =) Best of luck 

So, before I close on this house, I would like to hear all ideas on the best use of this money taking my goals to account.

So I took a break from pursuing it for a while and now I want to get back on it again but I want to do it here in Seattle-Tacoma area where it’s less competitive and I can work on it closely while I’m starting out.  

I only have 12 months to pay the cc before the interest kicks in and my limit it's about 20k would be enough to cover down and closing expenses.

I just closed on my first house Friday and am doing all of the work myself with my step dad.

Her main concern is if we stick 10k into the renovation to complete it, and closing costs on our new property, plus a couple small updates to the new property.