By offering me 100% financing!

I'm not from Alberta, but I will offer you a HUGE HELLO anyways from the great city of Nashvegas!!!!

She is offering to refinance one of her homes that is completely paid off.

With seller financing, you are already on the back foot so it seems like this would be a good time to make an asking price offer if your numbers suit it.

Let them know you are shopping and tell them to give you their best offer (all on the same day), and state you will go with whomever can save you the most money. 

I pushed back on the idea of an up front transaction fee of 10K and told him that I'd be happy to pay a transaction fee at closing, but wouldn't feel comfortable paying 10K without it being tied to an acquisition.

Why not use the higher end of the estimate and once you are serious about putting in an offer contact your broker then?

We have a 3% rate so dont want to refi but the property has appreciated quite a bit so would like to tap into that equity to fund our next deal.I am having some trouble finding lenders that offer helocs on investment properties.Does anyone know of any banks and/or lenders that do helocs on investments?

They had listed it for $40k more in 8/24 and dropped consistently until 12/24, when I made my offer.

Id keep looking if it was not an approved short sale ( even an approved short sale takes a very very long time and theres no guarantee that you will even close on the house after months of waiting). q1)There are plenty of non traditional lenders that could offer you construction financing if the numbers make sense but it will cost you with points and a higher rate.