And, for all the retirees down there, how will this impact them in terms of financially being able to rebuild?

Not to mention the rebuild cost that can be anything the general contractor sees fit.

We hope to put them to work for us in exchange for free trips to Hawaii to hang out with their family.Can anyone suggest reading material for a tear down/rebuild?

The home should be in a much better spot after the restoration.I used to work for a restoration crew and they can make this like new, you'll be amazed when it's all done with if they can repair and don't have to rebuild.

He is rebuilding his credit and should be able to refinance in a year or two.Any help on how to structure this deal would be greatly appreciated.

Take ya Loss and rebuild the rental and add this is a smoke free unit.

That got us through all the basic rebuild until we secured a 750K loan to finish. 

You need to have some money in reserve, basically with only 25K after the down payment it's going to be dicey until you rebuild the reserves.  75% of 133 - 88k owed, you may be able to get a HELOC for 12K, maybe a little more. 

Odds are reasonable that if you try to accomplish anything in life, you're going to meet a good cross section of both.So, it's made you stronger -- you sit back for a while, lick your wounds, cry into your beer, rebuild your asset base, then get back into the fray.

Not a rule/reg, but I would wonder whether the repairs/rebuilds from the fires still have contractors in Ventura tied up.