From what I understand, the contractor can inflate the price of the repair and bill it to the insurance company.

Tenant in our area like quality rentals, so make sure its clean and repaired before showing it.I think HELOC is a good way to come up with the 25% down payment. 

This can be a problem if you ever have to do repairs.  

If it's a property that you feel very seriously about, go ahead and do the inspection now, and provide it along with the offer as support.

Thank you.The plan is to fix and flip the house which requires about $70,000 in repairs.

I have a 40' shipping container on my property that I use for storage, so it makes it easy for me to stay ahead on appliances and other supplies.

There will always be new tenants, so don't worry about the turnover, there won't be any turnover if your rental is destroyed beyond repair. 

There are additional costs up front in purchasing and you must hold back reserve funds to insure you have the cash for emergency repairs. 

It is a bank REO bought at auction by the bank for $355k.So, live in flip:$360k ish offer, about $30k in repairs probably, worth $440k ARVSell primary:$480k (split the redfin/Zillow estimate) - $224k remaining loan (I will miss the low mortgage of $1650/mo)Worth it?

I need to find a foundation specialist who can look at this soon (before my inspection contingency expires) to determine how big of an issue it is and if it is possible to be repaired.