From the financing side of things, it gets a little tricky. 

How did you finance this deal?

Glad to be part of Bigger pockets community and hope to learn how to navigate buying my next property and how to finance it. 

If you have the cash, is it better to not finance repairs using a HML?

The seller is offering a seller financing option that is not attractive at all, so I am hoping to find a lender before resorting to the least favorable option.

From the financing perspective, those are great markets to be in.

Familiar with wholesale, sub-to, 1031, and seller financing contracts.

Even though you may be playing the appreciation game, your comment about having to take out of your emergency fund of you personal residence leads me to believe that you may not have the finances to be able to play the appreciation game long term, and you may be able to leverage the money from selling this house to buy into a more cash flowing market.

If cash if tight to purchase furnishings, some companies off "Buy now, pay later" options or smaller lines of credit can be relatively easy to get from credit cards that offer an initial term of 0% financing.

Using creative financing if I can get anything done with the deal I'd of course pay a commission for the referral.