Depends if you are working with joint venture partners or not.

We are not married but we own the home jointly.

Work with your neighbor to come to a joint agreement and ask for like 50% above market value or some other semi reasonable premium.

The Philly house will also be in my name and my father's (we went 50/50) so do we create a joint account?

Find someone to joint venture with.

Basically you are doing a Joint Venture with the seller. 

I have also seen contractors take your leftover materials to another job site or switch the high quality materials you wanted used on your property for leftover inferior stuff they already had. 

In California, a Will is not sufficient to avoid probate and the assets would need to be held in a family trust or in joint tenancy to avoid the probate process.  

I dont see where the Joint Venture is?

I have done over 100 deals without any of my own money and credit so you dont need funds to start.The other thing you can start doing is start looking for money partners to joint venture with.