If you feel confident in the rehab process it can be a powerful tool

I have been soaking up the BiggerPockets webinars, books, etc and feel confident in my ability to analyze/offer on deals.I have a few duplexes I would like to make offers on, but the piece that I don’t quite understand is how to approach a bank for financing.

As long as your confident with the rental numbers, that will be a big factor for appraisers. $40K rehab is not bad for a 4-unit!

I had one such tenant do that and she confidently applied.

Use Rehab calculator under tools on bigger pockets.Resulting output is great for investor discussions.Also prepare details on the area (niche.com is helpful), comps, days on market so the investor has confidence in your exit strategy and figures they have a good chance of getting there money and profit.Also, prepare a note backing their loan with the property so they have more downside protection.

In theory, if you refi $100k at sub 4% and you feel confident you can get 9% COC it could be a lucrative play.  

I just want to be flexible, and actually want to ensure that the electrician of choice feels super solid with a whole house rewire (my friend feels 75% confident in it).What would that verbiage look like????

I hesitate to say with 100% confidence that it does not exist but it's probably rare enough that you aren't likely to find it.

The numbers you present don't really make a compelling case to refinance, unless you are very confident that you won't be selling the house for a long time. 

As I said, RE has always interested me especially the investment/income aspect of it.You're insight helped me feel more confident in moving forward.