Its a long game and if done with precision eventually you will have vast financial freedom.

You need to develop a Scope Of Work that is precise and then start getting prices for all the work.Once you have that magic number, then you will add that to the cost you pay for the house, along with any other fees or expenses...Then look at finished Comps (get a Realtor like @Chris Ayars said) and see if you will make any money......

Need to pay the capital gains tax. 2) Trying to look up the historical value of the home as the deed was transferred when wife passed back in 2010.

Buying in your name, keeping the mortgage in your name and then transferring the property to an LLC arguably could invalidate the LLC. 

What about Transfer Tax? 

All you're doing is transferring your cash from your bank to the property. 

If you sell via land contract, you would still own it as the deed does not transfer until the contract is paid in full.

I ultimately decided to leave because once I had to transfer to a university from my local community college to gain the 4 year degree the thought of going into student loan debt didn't sit right with me.

I doubt builders would want to steal them for their own useAlso as mentioned they have your name on them and they don’t have cad files.For cad file transfers typically an architect will have a waiver

You would most likely need to just refinance with the VA loan and have a transfer deed changing ownership at closing.