He has been saving his money for years and has plenty of money saved but no experience with real estate investing.

People are no different.Best wishes.

SC  no longer allow assignment fees.Iowa same thing no longer allow assignment fees.IL  must have RE license allowed to do one a year with no license.TX has defined wholesale laws and mandatory disclosures.

2) Electrical: Because we have no heat, we've been using two space heaters.

If the seller says, “Oh no, feel free to give us an offer”, then there is your invitation.  

Assuming that your taxes and insurance are around $500 and your mortgage was $1,000 per month - even if you got a rate around 7-7.5% and had no money down I do nto see this property cashflowing.

we did the first 3 in a 18 month period we used internal funds so no debt.. these were 350k to 400k all in projects.. so U need cash to be a spec builder or you need investors if you dont have cash..

I see no reason why they won't be 50th this year even if the fire hadn't happened. 

Now more than ever, I am seeing offers required to be submitted through a portal where the listing agents want no business being involved with up front negotiations.

They offer SFRs across the country (1031 eligible) that are fully triple net lease - meaning there's no costs to the homeowner, no vacancy liability, no unexpected repairs and maintenance, NOTHING.