This is more of a reach goal for me since I am still in my "collect 4 green houses before trading up to a red hotel" stage, but I thought I would ask the hive mind anyways.

If I were in your and/or your mother-in-laws shoes, I would go to a local bank and use the free and clear house to secure a $150K+ line of credit. 

With value-add, I know I'm getting at least some of my capital out when I'm done and I'll end up with a house that should not need any significant cap-ex for quite a while.I'd do turnkey too if the numbers looked good enough but the reality is in the market where I have boots on the ground you're talking about close to 60k between down payment and closing costs for maybe $200/month in cash flow.

I am new to real estate investing, and is considering house hacking a property for my first deal.

If it is a high end housing product you may have to use a designer because they have access to some material/finish suppliers that are otherwise unavailable but that tends to only be for the highest end housing deliveries.

Any one of us could give you our two cents on the math of it, but only you can decide if it makes sense based on what your specific goals are. personally, i paid points on my house because my goal was lowest possible monthly payment.

The new property has to make $50k plus $12k/yr more than the existing property just to break even.

Cash for keys is definitely the best way to get people out in the day when I was very active at court houses steps cash for keys was by far the best way to get folks to move and bad tenants in a state with bad eviction laws to me would be the preferred method. you simply pay them when they are leaving the house not before.. that works fine and you give them more than 1k .. you make it worth their while..

FlashlightTape measure/Laser measurePaper/Pen/iPadBinocularsReceptacle testerLevelMarbleDroneRespirator/Face Mask/Eye Protection/GlovesAQI testerWater pressure gaugeThermal cameraEndoscope cameraKnifeI bought over 20 houses in my lifetime and I’ve never taken more than a flashlight. 

Many successful investors started small, such as with house hacking or buying affordable properties to rent out.