In both Denver and Colorado Springs, we had numerous clients in the last two years move here from San Francisco and Seattle to get a (slightly) more affordable home and enjoy the lifestyle that Colorado delivers (@Matt M.'

Offer to pay for the materials upfront (call in your credit card to the material supplier), and then offer to pay the rest of the 50% deposit (50% minus the materials cost) when he shows up to start doing the work. 

In a hot market if I had numerous offers coming in on a house I would probably do the same.

I am not an accountant but have kept a set of books on numerous occasions.

The house needs numerous small "repairs" that we are planning on completing in the first few days of owning it.  

I recommend Pittsburgh REIA as it has a main meeting & numerous sub-groups (by location & topic).Also Bigger Pockets has a library of podcasts on any topic you can think of.

However, keep in mind that there are numerous different sellers within auction.com and every contract will be different. 

This would save money in numerous places of the construction and also enable the builder to have vaulted ceilings and such since there would be no mechanicals or ducts in the attic. 

After reading numerous articles online I have reason to believe I can be a successful investor without being licensed. 

We have done numerous fix and flip loans in Austin over the past couple years and we keep hearing about more competition, so I know there are options!