I see it as a very risky, but much less time-consuming and much higher risk\reward ratio alternative to flipping to raise capital for buy and hold.

Assuming you have no other consumer debt (which is a reasonable assumption given that you don't even carry mortgages -- it would be odd for such a person to have a car payment or carry credit card balances) It'll work out such that your net positive cashflow must be ballpark 2.5x your personal housing expense in order to qualify, and continue to qualify, for Agency 30YF type financing.

Consumer Confidence.

Complete gut jobs are time consuming--perhaps this would have been better of as a flip--keeping it as a possibility.

Have any large revolving debt and consumer installment debt paid down so you can qualify for lending2.

Biggest savings opportunity you have is to set up an account at any of the paint companies; you'll get substantial discounts vs consumer pricing.You'll find as many professional painters swear by brand Z as for brand Y.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will come out on Thursday (11/12).

I am very excited for my first post after having consumed BP forums, articles, podcasts, etc. night and day for many months. 

However, if you can that is an option because when you live in a house you are actually "consuming" the cost of the property.

You can listen to 100 episodes of the BP podcast and consume numerous books (I've done both) - and you'll still feel hesitant to pull the trigger.