The existing homes are moderately up-scale.

.*** Moderator - Just responding to a post and clarifying options.

They need moderate work and I'm looking for some verified subs or a gc. 

[Solicitation Removed by Moderators]Thank YouCarl Fischer

If they were comfortable with a moderate but steady return I would go buy and hold with an equity position.

I believe the moderators/creators of these sites make money off of folks running adds. 

She's going to rent her 1 bed condo which she bought with cash long ago.There's something very wrong with Bankers if they look at a person who owns a Condo outright AND has $150k (seasoned) savings, but won't lend them a moderate balance because of not having an on-line credit history. 

Triplexes in a good location in Ocala can be bought foreclosed for under $90-95k and needing a moderate amount of repair/rehab.Can pretty much say the sellers have the upper winning hand here, and youre basically making their day.

Assuming you sell for $300k, of which $100k goes to pay off your debt, you could use the remaining $200k in equity for down payments of approx $25k each (25% down can get you better interest rates), giving you 8 cash flow properties which would be paid for by tenants by the time you really need the income (retirement) and provide moderate rental income in the meantime.You'd have to be able and willing to take on that much debt, of course, (so your debt-to-income ratio, annual income, credit score, etc will all impact this).

Often, I find tenants are more interested in proximity to a school, even if it is moderate.