In order to help finance the care, we are currently renting house and foresee needing to draw equity from it in the future. 

The settlement yesterday I bought a house appraised for $396,000, and I paid $255,000. 

The end goal is to have a piece of land with multiple houses: one for my growing family but also a home for my mother in law.My mother in law has agreed to foot the money on a new property/land up front and when ready we can buy land from her to build/develop etc. 

You could get the 3rd party processing fee removed by working with a broker/lender that does in house processing.Seems you're being gouged for the appraisal review and admin fee...that's ridiculous. 

Hi Jeff, as everyone has mentioned, I would suggest house-hacking a 2-4 unit if you have the means.

I have 2 quotes for renovation work on a house. 

Given that affordable housing is a national issue it seems that the more pathways to home ownership is a good thing.

On houses below $200k, the 70% rule gives you too low of a profit - you need to lower it the lower you go (ie a $100k ARV would probably be a 60% rule).

One of the trickiest parts of flipping houses, at least for me, has been figuring out how to accurately estimate rehab costs.

If you're open to mid term renting (we transition to this during our slower season), I'd also recommend speaking with the university and trying to see if you could try to be the source for their mid term housing.