If you are able to add an additional full bath, it sets you apart in the market big time! 

Fairbanks offers a unique market with its own set of considerations.

My ultimate goal would be to buy fixer-uppers to turn into long-term rentals.

If your goal is to help your mom, you can purchase a property for her through a 1031 exchange and rent it to her at fair market value to meet IRS guidelines.

Sounds like a problem with setting expectations.

A cash-out refi could allow you to set aside some funds as a reserve or at least pay down your debts so that your lines of credit (credit cards etc) can act as your emergency reserve when more bad things happen. 

If I were down there I would think about setting up a food truck or 10 or 20 and serving breakfast burritos 24 hours a day with some good hot coffee.Just my 2 cents.

The goal is not to get the house back.

Depends what you're looking for really, it might be worth discussing your strategies and goals with a broker, a national lender, and a local CU. 

I’m an out-of-state investor working on building my online presence, and I’m currently running into an issue with setting up my Google My Business (GMB) account.