1) Do you put the extra rent and deposit in escrow?

Unless we were asked and were being paid extra , we never replaced the pipe going into the tank from the house . 

Of course it sounds good as extra income but as I am looking it does sound like a headache and not appraising well.

Now every week that passes, I'm paying extra to keep my rate in.

The goal is to have paid off properties to pay my parents extra income in retirement. 

I cannot see how build two, say, 1200 sq ft houses with two roofs, two foundations, presumable about 25-30% more windows and siding is going to be cheaper a duplex that might have a little extra fireblocking and soundproofing.Now, maybe your GC is thinking that detached homes tend to get higher rent than comparably sized and finished duplexes.  

To learn more about the space and discover the opportunities, difficulties, ups and downs of being a host as well as funding my STR in the future, I have been organizing and building a co-hosting company with hopes of helping hosts relieve stress while at the same time discovering what it means to own an STR and what it takes to have happy guests.

Hello!
I'm new to real estate investing and following the advice in the BiggerPockets books. However, in my market, realtors often ask for an offer before providing basic information like the age of the CAPEX items, ...

If it brings enough to cover taxes, interest, legal fees and auction expenses, plus some extra, the people with redemption rights share the "extra." 

The extra cash will help because it shows that you have reserves, but you wont automatically get a sweetheart deal just because you have X amount of cash.