And then rather than start asking him questions about what his plans are, start bringing him into the fold with conversations about different ways to make money and talk directly with pros. 

So this is a 2 fold question I suppose:1) Am I allowed to have the remodel done in this scenario?

You are no longer poor.It's called Bootstrapping it with a 2nd job, (like work boots).I say this because you want to use a tiny amount of money to get some return on it--tiny investment = tiny return = cigarette and beer money for a weekend type money.At the end of two years your focus will produce very little folding green if you do that.I'm just saying there are other options out there that I have seen people do (to get money to start up) that will probably give you more money over 2 years or so.Good Luck!

Your QI is right - the responsibility to defer all tax is two fold - you must purchase at least as much as your net sale ($400K) and you must use all of your net proceeds in your purchase or purchases.2.Your one property would count as $160k of purchase using $145K of cash. 

Georgetown is housed within Williamson country which has seen tremendous growth over the past decade, surpassing the national growth rate six fold.  

@Travis W Condon Allowing pets increases your prospect numbers ten fold.

1% is pretty standard. you can see about them folding those costs into the loan.

The trouble seems to be 3-fold.1)I sublease the rooms in my primary residence and it covers my mortgage + ~$500 a month, so overall an excellent cashflow and I have had zero vacancies in the 18 months I have owned the home.

But that booking was so expensive I shipped a couple folding tables and folding chairs to the house for them to use, and now those are available if anyone ever asks. 

Even though this is my first time personally investing, I'm an attorney (not specifically a real estate attorney) but was an officer with an I-buyer before it folded prior to Covid (happy to talk about that if anyone is interested).