I am learning a lot about real estate and want to purchase a rental property in my area.

Financing depends on your scenario and what type of property you're purchasing.

If your mother does not want to carry the note long term, there are GSE renovation loans that can be used for both purchase, rehab, and permanent financing all in one loan.

I would like to put the money into purchasing another investment property.

I'd say if you are looking for commercial real estate wherein the purchase bought the property in a corporation then PS is not the best place for lead generation and skip tracing. 

Purchase price: $185,000 Cash invested: $35,000 Sale price: $671,000This was our 3rd home.

Quote from @Andrea Lucarelli: I’m interested in beginning my REI career with purchasing a SFH or condo in Cleveland area (safe neighborhood) to list as a furnished rental for travel medical professionals, supply corporate housing needs, or house temporarily displaced families for insurance companies.  

Quote from @Srikanth Kumar: Hi Everyone,I’m relatively new to long-distance investing and am exploring the purchase of multifamily properties in Cleveland.

So, you can do a land contract for 12 months, which should allow lender to credit you full value of the land vs the purchase price, but the loan will pay off the land contract, so the lender maintains first lien position.Can't help you with the rest of your question, but you should be able to search for "CPA" here on BP to find experts to reach out to.

The only additional thing that needs to happen is make sure appraiser makes note of why the value increase in as is vs previous purchase price.