@Van Lam - I think your plan to finish rehab and then rent them out a higher market rents makes sense to do first.

I'd love to get a sense of how LPs are fairing these days.

He was freaking out because they rejected his crypto downpayment and he could not close.When dealing with banks and the government, best to convert to cash 60 days in advance.Makes sense.

Confirm that the warranty applies to the type of property you own and consider whether the annual cost and service call fees make sense compared to just handling repairs yourself or using your own trusted contractors.

I had a similar mindset and started...in the sense I bought house hacks in areas whereI wanted to live and worried a little less about the dollars and sense and just made sure it worked for me!

I'd love to be able to start that way, but it's impossible in my location.Try to run the numbers and see if it makes sense for you, but for most real estate investors, I believe house hacking is the most intelligent/reasonable place to start. 

But again, your profit after selling costs (and any capex improvements) would have to be in excess of $60ok to really make sense.

We refer folks to bank-type lenders regularly throughout the year when that make more sense for our clients. 

I also wouldnt let your mom go into 2nd position on an investment property with any sort of restructuring; it doenst sound like she's in a position to risk being wiped out.Overall, though, if you want cashflow on the new property but cant achieve that after a refi into a market rate loan, it probably makes more sense to just flip it, pay off your heloc and your mom, and use the remaining capital for the next deal.

If I sense the buyer is cut from this fabric, I will negotiate extra hard against repairs to the extent they simply walk.