I have a beautiful, nicely upgraded 3 BR 2 BA condo in Palm Springs.

I'm an experienced mortgage banker ( I cover the entire island of Puerto Rico and its extensions of Vieques and Culebra, as well as the state of Florida) married to a beautiful woman from this island that after 8 glorious years in Colorado convinced me to take the leap and give life a shot on this beautiful island paradise.

It's a range using only a few factors.

Networking seems to be a huge factor in this business so I would suggest finding people already successfully flipping in your area their insight will be invaluable.

I'm married and a mom of 4 beautiful girls.

Ithaca is an Outlayer statistically, there are many factors that influence this.

I wouldn't worry too much about not having assets when it comes to qualifying for a mortgage, that's doesn't factor into the equation, with some readily available conventional loans.  

I think if you do the math and factor the costs of refinancing to save $80 a month, you will see that you are going to spend more in fees per year for the costs to refinance than you are going to save by not having the PMI.  

This wouldn't be a mortgage.The bank will tie up your funds and should offer a competitive rate, this is a low risk deal for them and I don't suspect your credit will be much of a factor. 

@Stephen Moskowitz I meant that the cost of renovating becomes higher if you have to factor in the cost to raise the home on top of all of the other renovations.