He is a very connected person and can get all kinds of interesting supplies very cheap and is willing to truck some our way whenever needed to come meet us in person and learn more about what we do....networking is always invaluable....Again these are very large returns because we are connected to a program that allowed me to fill in the holes in my knowledge easily and quickly.

- How can I estimate expenses for installing utilities and creating roads, sidewalks, and drainage systems?

We will be giving up an older boat in the harbor in Ventura California  to do this, and I am sitting here now overlooking the harbor in Cabo feeling a bit sad however as anyone who’s ever owned a boat knows it is a giant hole that you pour money into even when you feel you’ve just about done everything you could to make it shipshape.

In your new hole, supplant with a high quality mulch soil mix.

We didn't notice there was a hole in the roof as there was snow.

I would pay off the remaining 416K by getting a mortgage and hopefully have about 100K in equity.Anyone have thoughts or holes in this idea?

Start with Pace Morby and then go down a rabbit hole of videos for 20 hours and you should be able to understand most of it. 

@John Kelly this is a rabbit hole that so many folks go down.

The roofing company should not have left large, unprotected drainage openings in your roof.

One way to bypass the Probate hole is to put the properties in an intervivos revocable trust.