Before your read any further, I would not consider myself an expert, but I do think based upon your post you and I are probably in the same boat.I assume if your budget is 400k, you probably have 80k-100k liquid cash for deal 1?

The other one that I'd recommend over Home Depot was Tranquility from Lumber Liquidators.

The roller application works better than the spray

Can he spray with minimal prep work?

Alternatively you could passively invest the 200K in more liquid investments if you think you know something nobody else does: i.e what will happen to the Bay Area real estate in the next 5 years!

Also, that would be some friend to do all that for you.Is there not a way to handle this in normal divorce proceedings like force a liquidation of the property and pay her half, or pay her half to keep the property, or have her pay you half and you walk.Lots of other viable options here.... 

Getting a HELOC or portfolio loan in place is a great alternative to liquidation or a mortgage for a bunch of reasons.

I should also add that in addition to the 100k I have liquid, and the 55-60k I can get against my house, I can also qualify for 500k based on my income and expenses, and use the 100k liquid as the 20% down. 

We sprayed a nest that was forming, and apparently that didn’t take care of the bees.

How strong are the parents, what is their ability to purchase the next house, what liquid capital do they have available, how much risk are they willing to accept?