But people make the mistake of pulling equity with an old furnace and then that comes up in the dead of winter.

You presumably wouldn't allow that happen if you still had equity in the deal.But, if you did lose the property to foreclosure, it would be auctioned off.

If you lose money on the flip, you lose the money and your designer just doesn't get paid.

Most people are happy to cash flow when they put 20% down.

People think painting is just getting paint and putting a layer on.

Do you have a written estimate from the people that will do the clean up?

@Marius FleischerYou will have 50% of people tell you that you should invest there and 50% say otherwise or provide areas they feel are betterEach area has positives and negatives - my recommendation is to visit each of these areas then shortlist them and continue to figure out where to invest

There have been way to many people who think that their STR is worth 100k more than the exact same house 2 doors down.

Many people do this.

Can you afford to lose that money, knowing full-well that you may never get it back?