In order for your scenario to work, you need to purchase a property at a cost low enough that after you rehab the property you will be all in at less than 75% of the ARV (I say less than 75% because you also need to factor in the closing costs for the first loan and the refinance).  

Found it to be extremely effective.  

(I would like to think the Title company would catch this but, if water is in Tenants names you need to ensure they have not racked up an unpaid balance, because this is the one utility that will not follow the Tenant and will instead stick to the property, like I said I'm sure the title company should catch this but never hurts to be sure otherwise you may be facing the option of paying an extremely high water bill or having the water shut off.) - This may also be a question for your Title company first.In your inspection contingency  you would like to review most of the above during that time, can it be provided for your review then?

Condo's are appreciating quickly here, low inventory on the market, high demand for the investments upcoming on the resort mountain.

I've been extremely interested in becoming a real estate investor for a long time. 

Houses will be low 400's to high 400's (1,900-2,300 sf) depending on the model.

Low 600s or high 500s may be impossible to approve. 

Another option would be to have an engineering firm do the inspection but costs for that can be pretty steep and generally are not necessary unless you are looking at an extremely large or otherwise complicated structure.

I may not be thinking of buying the property, but if the bids are too low, should I just not make an offer?

Also in the price range you are considering you are running a high risk of having a low quality experience.