Pretend it's just a SFR with more square feet/bedrooms and run the comps that way.

@Anne Williams As you've already been encouraged to do, even though this is not an investment property per se, it is still a large investment for you and you should try to get a good deal not just overpay because your agent tells you to.Appraisals are not the subjective 3rd-party valuation your agent is pretending they are.

I send an email pretending interested, no reply so far.3.

There are online sites for landlords (such as BiggerPockets) and online sites for renters (Google "apartment ratings" and pretend you are a renter looking for a place to live).

Then came an accountant that became a real estate investor partner that pretended to be a very good friend all the while fudging the numbers.

As for off market deals, I'm not going to pretend that I'm able to rival what some CFRI wholesalers do. 

They understand that if I find an end-buyer I will assign my contract, if not I will let my option expire.This definitely costs me deals so I can understand why people would be tempted to lie and pretend to be the end buyer when they aren't able to close.

Or is more like my pretend rich uncle gives me 100k and says go make money and Pay me back if you can?

I cannot imagine pretending I'm not the owner. 

If that is something that you are interested in, do some research on BP, and you might find that it works for you, being a stay at home parent, you could manage the property yourself, or have a property management team and pretend to your tenant that you are renting too!