That will allow you to better place your money in areas you know can succeed whether it be in the arbitrage or ownership space.

I’d offer to sign the form if I was allowed to cross out everything between brokerage firm and during the terms.

However, if you sell instead of rebuilding, the IRS may include part of the payout in your taxable gain unless reinvested under the §1033 involuntary conversion rules, which allow you to defer taxes by purchasing a similar property within two years.If the property was your primary residence, you may exclude up to $250K (single) or $500K (married) of gains if you lived there for at least 2 of the last 5 years, likely resulting in no taxes owed.

Her mother is willing to (co-sign) and has excellent credit and debt to income ratio that will more than allow but I’m not sure the best way to structure this for the house to still be in our name?  

If both the parent and child are married, this allows forgiving up to 4 times the annual gift tax exclusion per year.

Despite my concerns, I allowed the appraisal to proceed.

This would allow for a longer carry back with up front cash flow.

Maybe that allows you to afford more rentals in the future too. 

Most do not go past 75% and also do not allow a second lien either.

Co-living I like a bit more because you have less money needed for furnishing a property and CO laws allow it in the major cities unlike STRs.