It will affect his credit and DTI, his primary residence won't be held as collateral so it won't be at risk. 

Learned a lot around contractors, designing, architecture costs, materials affecting overall budget.

And, how does the availability of utilities, or lack of them, affect the valuation of the property? 

Here are a few examples, divorce, job relocations, health issues, foreclosure pending, and a long list of issues that affect the emotional stresses of their lives.

Rinse and repeat

If this is a large complex; you can be more aggressive since one down unit does not really affect your cashflow and you probably have a handyman that will do the work and possibly have a list of people waiting to move it.

Near the end of the evening, after questioning him for nearly 2 hours, she ushered me over to hear him repeat the numbers on the deals he had been making in Rocky Mount.

I think if you figure out if fha loan allows rehabs and you're willing to go through the rehab while not making money and the deal makes sense (meaning it is worth significantly more than the cost you paid plus rehab) and you're able to do thta repeatedly it'll work.

Repeat about 100 times.

"Buy Renovate Rent Refinance Repeat" is a gem!