Is it a good idea to buy them lunch for the week, in the form of a gift card?

You get the idea...Don't forget to thank them for their time: I recommend a Starbucks gift certificate for at least $20 bucks.Good luck!

If only one person provides the capital but both have membership interests, you will run into gift tax issues.You also want to look at whether a pass-through entity helps your bottom line and your taxes.

Basically, in 1996 a married couple out of “love and affection” for the grantee, gifted the property to her “reserving unto themselves a LIFE ESTATE in the herein real estate”.

I don't think there is any problem with retaining a life estate, but I would have a tax practitioner that specializes in Estate & Gift issues assist in making the relevant calculations and drafting the supporting documentation.

If I understand your post correctly, you will only have to pay for the fix up, not for the house itself (gift from father-in-law)?  

@Andrew Pettit They can give you a gift you up to $15,000 per year.

Would you recommend cards or gifts to stay relevant besides just phone calls?

Heck even give them a $10gift card (remember they're tax deductible gifts to clients!)

During the process my lender told me that you can not use gifted funds to buy an investment property.