I would like to start with a few wholesales or flips and then grow a portfolio that enables my money to work for me...instead of me working for the money!  

I could use that bid to extract costs for kitchen or bathrooms.

There's a difference between one-time help and long-term enabling, only you will know where your situation falls along that spectrum.Agree with @Ethan Atkinson and @Patrick Soukup - entering as a lender or $ partner might be a good route if you determine REI is the right thing for you to do now.

I do not have building expertise, however am connected with a great builder who has those skill sets, so we combine our experience enabling us to embark on and execute projects we otherwise could not do well on our own.

FHA), that would enable you to put as low as 3.5% down on a multi-family property, as long as you were living in one of the units. 

Hot Pads will give you a rent-ratio heat-map, which is going to similar to what you're talking about.Zillow has API's you can code against to extract data that you're interested and processes it yourself, if you're inclined to do-it-yourself.

If you are just starting off and are somewhat new you might want to consider "strong business credit" this will enable you to build your businesses credit to attract more traditional lenders.

More specifically I am trying to chain purchase rentals by extracting the equity from the previous one.

As  @Ned Carey so eloquently stated, your grandparents are not helping the tenant, they're enabling the tenant. 

Another item is confirmation from the first position lender they will allow registration of a subordinate lien/mortgage {with many residential bank mortgages here, registering a second, especially w/o their consent, could enable them to call the first}.