yeah sounds about right, Im in a situation now I'm not sure if I'm getting scam or not, the company requested I use their appraisal company $1000 thats been about 3 weeks haven't receive anything back yet. when I requested to speak to the appraisal company to see what the hold up was.

My mom’s husband was a good-ol-boy who would give anyone a deal and the shirt off his own back.

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator – so, they often select the first PMC they call or that calls them back!

And as mentioned in one of the other posts, when it was done 20 years ago it did not end well for a lot of people.  

The drawings can go back and forth but the rater needs to be local to the property because in the end he will have to go verify what came out of the build and prepare a reconciliation showing the actual performance numbers post construction. 

There are some improvements that i'd like to do to increase resale, and just general upkeep (ie- new tile floor in kitchen, replace fence that is end of life. 

This is going to sound sacrilege but I think you should get a W-2 job in real estate based on your end game of wanting to be a developer I would look to work for developers, custom builders, surveyors etc.

But what you are describing has been seen on these forums for years: Airbnb Arbitrage, where the host, for any number of reasons, can't buy their own properties so leases other people's in hopes they will more than cover the rent with their airbnb.At the end of the day, you are no longer operating a residential property.  

Would like to avoid but not the end of the world if the plan pays for the added capex and turns to cash flowing. 

You can go back and renegotiate that or negotiate it right from the start, knowing you may not be able to afford 3.