My wife and I would also build out tiny homes and offer them as AirBNBs.

These numbers are tiny as a percentage and have no effect on the type of real estate investing we do here.

In general, given the situation your best bet is likely through a Chinese vendor from the ID, but $2k is going to be tough if the kitchen is anything but tiny.

For only a hundred bucks more a month he's getting a fully updated house, with a yard, and a garage, compared to the tiny crappy apartment he has in midtown.

Here are the specifics:  the property is a tiny 2/1 house built in the 40s; lot is 7500 sf; Zillow puts the property at $809,000; we don't have any money to put down but my husband would be the General Contractor and would not take a salary; the investor would be on the title; the property next door just sold for $949,000 (it's a tiny 2/1 house also built in the 40s with a very small studio + bath in the back. 

If governments cannot be kept secure and banks, medical etc, accept security questions that are often just your address and date of birth, then why should I trust this data with a tiny SME on here selling notes?

That's a tiny part of rehabbing.The skill of finding the deal, knowing how to make the property appeal to the broadest spectrum of buyers, knowing how to price it to sell, and therefore knowing how much to pay for it, - those are all skills that most contractors don't have.

You have to be a contortionist to get paint around the plumbing without making a mess, and cutting in feels like you're doing a whole house instead of just one tiny room.

You should probably ask yours to be sure.As far as the contractor or multiple contractors not giving you there EIN/TIN. I

It ended up being a tiny gasket and happened many times nail I finally sold it and bought a Graco that had zero problems.