Such as deep clean, nonexistent items charged for and inflated prices for stocking. any chance I can get my money back?

They go where the money is, but eventually get back to me.

@John Michael RobersonI agree with @Kory Reynolds: tax-wise, it is a workable plan, as long as you are hands-off, which in technical terms is known as failing material participation.I would caution however against focusing strictly on taxes.

There are still flood properties around the city that can be purchased cheap and have enough margin to make money.

Hello, I am completely new to investing money on a scale such as this.

If your main driver is saving money please pay the professionals.

It isn't stated other wise.

Or is it just better to find a hard money lender for a short term of about 1 year depending on the season period a traditional bank wants?

Hey Christian, most flippers fund their flips using hard money bridge loans.

My preference is to go straight through the title company, put that money into renovations, and send the agent a couple hundred dollar gift card to Amazon for their time.