Everyone here at BP salutes your fortitude.I would contact some folks in the State Department, ask them who they use for urban planning and bomb site reconstruction.

Should I use this route or just mess with the bank and try to apply for a reconstruction loan??

In my experience, architects are not going to give you accurate costs, unless they've been around a long time.I would find local builders, or local insurance companies that cover housing related re-construction.

You need commercial property construction insurance because you are reconstructing the home for the next 2 months or so.Call A friendly Farmers Insurance agent and specifically ask for insurance to protect a home rehabilitation job site for 2 to 3 months till you're ready to sell or find tenants.Also get quotes from Allstate,State Farm,etc.

Many times mom and pops keep lousy records and comingle funds, which makes it difficult to re construct the books.

You need to wholesale first.If you want to be a good buy and hold investor, you need to wholesale first.It is like saying..OMG man, don't become a brain surgeon because it is difficult.

Keep in mind there's many other medical professionals that travel like doctors and scrub techs (assist surgeons). 

If you earn $300,000 a year as a heart surgeon with average financial discipline, replacing a $10,000 roof will be easy.

Cardiac Surgeon vs a General Surgeon. 

If I couldn't be a surgeon who only read a few books and never went to school, I don't feel comfortable investing without enough training.When I had so much debt and accesed my very last credit line for my coaching classes, it would very much make financial sense for me to get a "real" job to pay my bills.