im in Indy......you can buy under 100K (its getting slimmer but its still possible).......and the best part.....most of the properties at that price point can either be a flip or a rental.......

Why would anyone advise you to refinance and then let the person live there paying rent for 4months, you would end up holding this rehab for close to 7months before you'd be out of it.I think you may need to do your rehab calculations because from where I'm standing your profits are getting slimmer by the minute, 10% from 115,000 is 11,500(realtor fees and buyer closing costs),78k to hardmoney, 5k to banker thats only 20k left over and you havent subtracted rehab costs.What if the appraisal comes in low?

A Buy-n-Hold strategy often works on a slimmer margin or allows for a higher purchase price w/ less invested into repairs.

I am a buy and hold investor who has slimmer margins but lower costs and higher appreciation.

In other markets, it is slimmer.

Many New York imports, such as myself have come to the area and the margins are much slimmer than other areas of the country as New Yorkers have been driving up prices on investment properties.  

this one will be a bit slimmer than the last one... but experience, and some $... is priceless. 

Big money is working on slimmer margins than makes sense for the average investor.The two things you really need to know are:The true value of what you are bidding onThe rules of the game for your particular jurisdiction. 

The advantages of Denton County are:1) Lower Price Points than Collin County (Plano Area)2) Close proximity just west of all the private sector "employment boom" of Collin County3) Safety of Denton County4) Closer proximity to DFW International Airport when connecting 35E/Sam Rayburn Tollway5) Northwest of Dallas County and directly north of resources in the Tarrant County Mid-Cities (Colleyville, Grapevine, and Southlake).  6) Many of the purchase prices in Collin County (Plano) are higher due to the hype, but the profit margins are much slimmer when rehabbing properties due to the builds being fairly new.   

Whenever I analyze Seattle properties for fun (to dream), they are way slimmer than what I am used to down here.You can do a lot to research the different expense components, and keep refining it while you can still back out.