I got my house at a 3.25% interest rate for a 30 year which to this day blows my mind, because the interest rate that I would have gotten (3.75%) suddenly dipped about an hour before I locked it in.

I have considered acting as the general myself and of course I would love to save the 20% contractor's fee but the prospect of finding and coordinating competent and reliable subs and getting three estimates for each sub category is too daunting a task for me.  

Produced more reliable on-time payments too.

Also, keep in mind that you'd need to stay up to speed on all proper documents and forms in your state as well as maintaining a status with your local Association of Realtors, pay for MLS access, pay for lock-box access, attach to a brokerage and onboard with them, along with several other items.

Have a tenant who won’t pay rent changed the locks won’t get out etc in the Philadelphia area courts super backed up any advice from someone familiar with Philadelphia area 

Small valuables could be secured in a lock box. 

He's been really great and reliable.

(but don't quote me on any of these numbers; verify them yourself).A lot of folks have built excellent portfolios with locked-in low interest debt simply by moving to a new primary residence once every year or two, and repeating that process until hitting the limit on primary residence mortgages.Congrats on your strong equity position!

Does anyone know a reliable source to review actual costs of rehab projects?

@Carlos Martinez- 1) if you have  no property yet and  are trying to get pre approved - and  trying to decide on a lender to use for this - you DO NOT  need to have the  credit pulled  yet  2) contact whatever lenders  you want on the same day and  provide the same  criteria  ( price / loan amt / credit score/ loan program ) and  ask  for   quotes  from them   and  any other  questions you have  3)   if any are not willing or able to  provide quotes - take them off your list  4) make a  decsion on one lender from the feedback  received and proceed with the one  lender for the  formal  pre approval and  have them pull the  formal  tro merge  credit report  and provide them with all your data ( paystubs / bank statements  / w2s  etc ....)   5) once pre approved -  begin to aggresively  house  hunt  6) when a  property is  found and you get into contract - you can  cost compare the lender  you are  pre approved with  with any  other lender and make final decision to proceed with rate lock with the lender you choose