depending on your area i noticed some banks come back low on appr with helocs. i know a buddy who use 2 seperate banks and got significant different appr for their heloce

it takes years to get through these states.PA  NY  NJ  IL  I know a few of my HML buddies out here on the west coast who were starting to lend in other markets now wont lend in Judicial states at all.  

The 8 month rehab estimate came from info I was able to directly garner from speaking with my buddy Choby's own licensed contractor who has worked on several of Choby's personal properties similar to this one.

My buddy Adam is who I use. https://mlwenergylaw.com/attor...

We had 6 pump stations and my buddy was working at another pump when a customer tried pulling a common scam - they'd tell you to fill it, or put in 20, and then say "I told you 10, that's all I have".

You are in the trades so you should know people well enough to get a light rehab done yourself with some buddies.

This is one of my pet peeves: people are not comfortable buying real estate sight unseen but will put 50k into a company they know nothing about because a buddy told them about it or they read an article online. 

The more hands off the current owner, the more the maintenance co could have been sending work to their buddies who own companies to get bulk rates for works on their other property owners.  

Could you purchase a home right now and rent it out until you are ready to move in with your buddies?

2) My thought was to start an LLC with myself and my buddy as co-owners with a 50/50 split.