Same with gas and dog food and your local mechanic.

@Michael Zahr some companies will inspect before they provide a quote, but 4 out of 5 will inspect after the policy is started.They will not need documentation, but you will be asked how old he roof is, age of the mechanicals, etc.

I know there are a few "hoops" to get through with the 203K but I'm fine with jumping through a few hoops for some cash flow.My question is this: Supposing a property needs a gut rehab or close to a gut rehab, can we hire a contractor using the 203K to handle most of the bigger jobs (roof, siding, plumbing, electrical, drywall, mechanical) and then pay out of pocket to finish the smaller parts of the rehab ourselves (paint, laminate flooring, etc.) ??? 

I was thinking of offering different tiers of services for out of state investors, such as a basic drive by with some photos of the property and the street up to getting eyes inside the property by getting photos of the every room in the house including the mechanicals and reporting the same back to the investor.

We could always put a mechanics lien on the property if we finish the job and he didn't sell to us.  

A lot of this is going to depend on the age of your home and how deep into the mechanical structure you are going.

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated before I send it over to my lawyer for a final draft.The home is in a suburb of Detroit, has one set of mechanicals, and one set of meters.

Very interested in the mechanics but there are so many incomplete threads about subject to that they make it more confusing than anything lol.Thank you in advance, Erin 

If they have cash, we skip that step and get right into the mechanics of the deal.

No matter which way you go , I cannot imagine that extensive or not full replacement of water lines, electrical and mechanicals such as a heating are not going to be needed or required by the city when a permit is pulled on a property that has been vacant for 10 years .