I wouldn't be opposed to having a little skin in the game (closing costs, inspections, etc) I would be living there paying market rent and doing the improvements myself.

If they are CF positive then they will not cohnt against your DTI but will improve it...that's standard conventional guidelines barring a few exceptions.

Improvements What was the outcome?

Improve the location and appreciation potential. 

See if you can do an SBA loan at 10% versus a commercial loan at 25% downpayment.As far as investors:3. 

pid=2141Houston Real Estate Highlights for December and Full-Year 2024:-Following two consecutive years of declines, single-family home sales rebounded in 2024 with 85,163 single-family homes sold compared to 84,038 in 2023 an increase of 1.3 percent; -Total property sales for full-year 2024 were statistically flat at 101,864 units while the total dollar volume increased 3.1 percent to $41 billion;-December single-family home sales climbed 16.3 percent year-over-year with 7,162 units sold;-Total December property sales increased 13.6 percent to 8,478 units;-Total dollar volume for December rose 20.5 percent to $3.5 billion;-The single-family home median price edged up by 1.3 percent to $334,290 while the average price increased 5.0 percent to $425,150;-Single-family homes months of inventory expanded to a 4.0-months supply;-The townhome/condominium market experienced declining sales throughout 2024, and in December, volume declined 5.8 percent, with the average price up 2.5 percent to $268,152 and the median price statistically flat at $234,250;-Townhome/condominium inventory improved from a 3.5-months supply to 5.4 months.

This reminds me of the story of a wall-street banker convincing a fisherman who already has time for his friends / family to instead scale his fisherman business(get employees, integrate, then sell the business) all of which will lead him to be able to spend time with his friends and family.It already sounds like you have a great life - spending time wth family and in great health.Having additional money doesn't sounds like it would improve your life that much.

I use inspection reports, appraisals, and my trusted PM to advise me about what's good versus bad.

Our average construction time is about 8 months after permit is issued and we are always improving.

But I would urge planners to consider that the Sec 263 regs they rely upon for the justification for not expensing remodeling costs is actually an exclusion section which prohibits deductions under pspecified circumstances that being that the amount was: "paid out for new buildings or for permanent improvements or betterments made to increase the value of any property or estate."