I didn't rip equity from her, more than she chose that option out of convenience.

This isnt true -- but with anything, convenience costs. 

I was quite surprised when he invested $500,000, and followed up with a $250,000 additional investment the next year.

I was honestly surprised that it was “that” easy.It is about an hour’s drive from my house now and I justified it as a BRRR type deal… but honestly I just think I bite off more than I can chew. 

However, if convenience and simplicity are more important, using your home address could be the way to go.

There will be some giant surprises to many there when you have to start paying engineers for frequent evaluations and making the structural repairs required.   

Let me guess you're going to be surprised when your HOI goes up too?

@Pedro - I would also be surprised if you'd be building anything custom with Miami-Dade County regulations for that range as well.

Chase is one that you will typically find in all cities for convenience.

In retrospect, this shouldn't have been surprising.