One guy starts the house, a different person finishes the house and completes the walk through with the buyer.

My partner and I are in a similar situation - both about to finish grad. school and looking to pick up our first property (3-4 unit) this year via 203k-ing into a distressed property in a B/C neighborhood in the west suburbs.

He can cash out refi right after rehab is finished. 

No penalty for trying and failing to finish other than the exchange fee.

Note that this other REI may have great credit, but is doing the BRRRR method...and has hit their limit on mortgages.Here's what you would gain from this:1 - A percentage of the cash flow from the finished Rental2 - Experience on all phases of the process, from beginning to the end (this is a required part for the use of your credit), as an observer.  

If anybody can help me get an outline of start to finish articles to read, videos to watch, step by step, I would greatly appreciate, this site is full of great people and I hope one of you can help me out.

as well, know your market and what the homes in the area are selling for that are similar in square footage and finishes to yours? 

I just finished my master's degree in food science, and currently work as a food science professional.

I also see evidence that the newly appointed owner has been working on the property to try to fix it up to comply with the city code but it has been taking over 2 years and still hasn't fully finished. 

My mother in law recently moved in with my wife and I to help out with childcare and such, so I just finished up a bunch of work on her house in Farmingdale and got it rented out over the weekend.My mother in law also purchased the two family in Queens back in the 80's for all of $40k, it's worth about $700k today and brings in $2750/mo in rent.