They could also be lying through their teeth.  

It made no sense whatsoever.

It appears to me to meet the definition of an abusive trust scheme.Their claims simply do not make any tax sense whatsoever, except in the context of an abusive trust as defined by the IRS.

In my view this is Completely useless trash information that will have no bearing or practical value whatsoever in adult life .

If they build inside the property line....you have no say so whatsoever.  

As easy as this sounds, it's not simple and usually like pulling teeth.

I've been searching for non-owner occupied HELOCs, since they are as rare as hen's teeth. 

Every house I've ever bought, the owner has lied through their teeth with obvious things.

You and your parents may get along great today, but if they had to move out and/or stop paying you rent for any reason whatsoever, would that turn your 'hack' in to a nightmare? 

The problem we have is that we have basically no leverage whatsoever unless you have credit & work history.Like I said I'm not an expert but what I can say is that after reading, listening, and calculating is that the more skin you have in the game (capital, leverage, relationships, credit, knowledge, etc.) the better.