And those maybe bait and switching you..

$2,698-$1600= $1098/mo would be your responsibilty and you said you could cover it all. 

Talk to other clients, go look at his current job site and see how clean it is, the quality of work, if the order of operations is making sense so far, etc.PS I'm a GC in the Nashville area and can take on a handful of clients in 2025 if you need me.

Come by if you can!

You have to cover increased utility costs.

It's a double skip process that requires gathering owner information on the LLCs from the secretary of state or corporationwiki (as @Eliott Elias stated), and then skipping the owner which is why you will only find a handful of companies that can do this accurately. 

Let’s connect, and if there’s anything I can do to support you, just let me know!

Could you gift the down payment to your mother in law so she can buy it and then transfer title to you when your house is done?

By the most important thing (if that's what you're doing) is to have a really good operator who knows the laws, has experience and is above board so they won't leave you high and dry. 

I have written a blog post that may help you out.