Any constructive advice would be much appreciated. 

I doubt that any serious lender is going to lend you construction funds in second position behind your mom's purchase-money lien on a distressed property.

I would look at new construction or build to rent but make sure to run the numbers. work with builders who can keep build costs under $200 per sq ft and look for areas where land is less than 10% of after built value.

We have about 22 full-time W2 employees in the office, approximately 40 traveling construction folks -- and managers and maintenance W2 employees at each community we own and operate.

Hi Steven,It sounds like you and your wife, Renee, have a wealth of experience in the real estate and construction fields, which is a great foundation for starting your real estate investing business.Given your background in residential remodeling and home inspections, and Renee's experience as a real estate agent, you're off to a strong start.

In our student houses we use a programmable thermostat, but our building monitoring system has its own sensors and can override the wall thermostat and will not allow the temperature to get below 10C (50F) ... we are presently testing a new software load that will also prevent them from cooling the house too far in the summer.

At one point in my career I was the point person on 30 Family Dollars a year in CA (due diligence -> construction completion) and it was insane hours each each but I gained a hell of a lot of experience that paid off in the long run.  

Can anyone recommend software which would accept monthly payments (from me to seller) and create proper 1099 forms for tax purposes at year end? 

I have ~20 doors in OH that I self manage (there are some awesome softwares out there now for self management) and am looking to start investing in Buffalo too.

Short term it is difficult to make the numbers work, the cost of new construction and the time it takes to zone-plan-build are usually the main reasons why private investors stay clear.