I am aware of the tax benefits however like I may have mentioned, my next step in my investment adventure is to fix a house up and sell it in less than a year.  

So far I’m thinking I either have to wait a whole year to make more moves or I have to sell the manufactured home and maybe put the 150k I get out of it as a down payment for a multi family building. 

I was waiting on feedback from the forums to help me better understand, which you have certainly helped with! 

You didn't mention whether or not you plan to live in one of the units in the 4-plex, but I imagine you are or you wouldn't be able to finance with a 203(k) loan.I guess a lot of it depends on whether you have the funds to do the renovations without the loan, and whether you want to do some of the renovation work yourself?

I recommend using the city PD's map of registered crimes: http://www.slmpd.org/crime_mapping.shtmlBut if you're really interested in SFH, you might also consider the areas in STL County that some of the others mentioned, i.e.

The wrecked house is apparently from the '40s so everything you've mentioned could be present in spades as well as other contaminants.If there's access to the property, recent sales as well as a zillow estimate is pointing at about 60k for the entire thing, but that's assuming just flat land. 

I can continue saving cash and wait for a deal or a reduction in pricing.

Thus far he hasn't consulted legal counsel though he has mentioned it - but he has been transfixed on the eviction.  

He's also mentioned putting the proceeds from sale into an annuity, so he may entertain owner financing which could sweeten the deal.  

Also down the line you can get into road block getting more heloc like you mentioned the snowball effect.