Often times you can be very well rewarded for this but that is the risk you take.

If you want them I would get quotes from others in the area and compare that to your 7000 dollar estimate form your builder.

If they don't want to use the comparative sales method, then can you use your NOI?

We know we are in a desirable school district and we believe we can price our house compared to other properties on Zillow and pulling the sale records from the county in our area.

But even this is unlikely as you'll be buying at auction presumably without inspection.You can't expect someone else to take a big risk for a small reward.

It is a thought market and we definitely know now why everyone thought it was so cheap compared to the west coast.

Compare them wisely and then make a decision.

This has been a rewarding and flexible career but I intend to transition that experience and insight into building a cashflow vehicle of my own. 

My long term goal is positive cash flow as I intend to own the home for 30+ years and appreciation discounted over that period of time makes very little difference to the return I make; it's more about the rental income compared to the total cost of the house for me.  

However, we could list our home tomorrow for $140K.Clearly I understand that I'm comparing apples to oranges bc a mobile home is not officially real estate and our house is.My point is, I think (and I could be wrong) that I could rehab this property and sell it for $27K.Thank you all for the input, this really helps as BP is my one and only location for industry professionals to weigh in on this situation.I know my first deal won't be... well, ideal.