I have seen several auctions where the same property gets listed back in Hubzu because no one wants to biuy at inflated prices from wholesalers.

I think the general rule is that those do not count toward you COC as they artificially inflate it temporary, and then when you actually realize the expense, they would count against it worse.

For the first three options you want something with low volatility that will beat inflation, so TIPS or a money market.

Each year has only 3.52% growth on Las Vegas house price since 1987, include the inflation, today’s Las Vegas house price is not expensive at all.

This area is tricky as there are several spots where the demand is high, but the pricing is just too inflated when compared to other areas.

Even if we are seeing great appreciation, I will never bank on appreciation even if it is greater than inflation.

From what I understand, the contractor can inflate the price of the repair and bill it to the insurance company.

Most of the markets in Texas are heavily inflated due to the recent influx of people moving to the state making it very hard to find "deals".  

Both of us on loan, we get owner occupied interest rates and flexible down payment amount (although I feel I would want to put down 20% to remove PMI)Once Dad sells his home (easier to do than finding a duplex) he will give me about $55-65k of the profits, be the owner occupier in a duplex, go halfsies on repair/cap ex, but only wants to pay about $500 per month (he'll adjust for inflation!) 

As long as you sell at a completely silly price it does not hurt so much when you buy at an inflated price!