I would if I were you, get contractors to bid the job from licensed and non-licensed contractors.

Behm, Enrolled Agent, is licensed by the US Treasury Dept.

I have my own RE license.

I have just passed my real estate licensing and am looking to start investing so any tips for a newbie would be greatly appreciated. 

Some states require them to be licensed as a realtor, so they need to disclose more stuff to you, and it depends on that state too as Chris said above.

Part 2 is prosecute licenses who “wholesale” (contract flip) as not adhering to professional standards of the license.  

Unless yo purchase a place with an existing license you will never get a license for an STR. 

We went way over our expected budget - by far our worse budget miss ever (remarkably we were only 0.5 week over our 2 month timeline).Using my rule, take the estimates and double them then add for lost occupancy and that is what I would be seeking or the owner have the work done using licensed contractors and do the work, take the risks, and suffer the vacancy costs.If you purchase having to do the work and your appraisal can handle it, the credit at closing is superior to price discount.  

I am currently a licensed realtor for New Western, a broker that specializes in off-market distressed real estate.

He has been a licensed GC for 20+ years and has his Real Estate license in multiple states.