Eliminate all popcorn ceilings, repaint everything, new flooring throughout, renovate bathrooms, add a bathroom, renovate the kitchen, improve outdoor living, improve curb appeal, and believe it or not, make the garage exceptionally nice.

Am I doing something wrong or is home warranty just an extra annual expense I should eliminate?

I'm coming across FB ads offering large lines of credit for businesses at zero percent rates, in other words, possibly eliminating the hard money lenders. 

My presentations were geared towards new construction, but there are ways to improve existing homes as well.The main keys are to understand how energy (heat/cold) moves through houses and how to eliminate the weak links in heat loss/gain. 

Save money on build by eliminating garage.

If people can access basic needs, and even new homes, for free it will eliminate rent and sales for many existing homes.

Most lenders do not like to lend to out of state clients using construction loans, some local lenders we work with will work with out of state clients if they know we are attached to the deal, because they do not want their client going belly up.Your 130K is going to get you into an F market. 

If they can own their dream escape, eliminate the costs and annoyance of booking a rental every time and carry most of some of the costs by house sharing with someone else, that's good enough for them. 

You sound (I could be wrong, but probably not) like you want to use your background to eliminate some of the guesswork, but real estate investing is learned by being at properties, talking with other investors, going to meetups, etc.Predictive data for investors is wholly flawed because it can't see inside of the houses.

I am not sure how old your mother is, but if she has substantial equity like you are saying, she can pull it out, pay off the original loan, and even eliminate her payment.