Initially wanted to hold forever but with insurance costs rising/property taxes going up/threats of Hurricanes destroying home, considering cashing out.  

Refinance lender was ok and I'm actually using them again for a house hack but I don't think they'll be a top of my list for another BRRR refinance due to their restrictions.

Have you pulled a list of title companies around you and called them to ask? 

I understand BiggerPockets has calculators, an exhaustive list at that.

Feb to July usually has the strongest activity and then flat after September.Problem with real estate is that ........ it is too easy, if you download the data that you interested to look for, you only have 30-50 homes and make the plot or prediction based on this input is again.....very easy.Also Axos has good data as well using Listing to Sold Ratio listing.

Up until the trustee sale (foreclosure auction), the home is still owned and fully controlled by the home owner.I’m assuming you’re going to be looking at off-market properties (since loan status isn’t something they advertise on the MLS so you likely wouldn’t even know if it was in default if it’s a listed property).So, in that case, you’d just negotiate a purchase agreement with the home owner and then take the contract to your local escrow/title company to open escrow. 

My thought process is to purchase the property initially under my name so that we can pay 5% down as my understanding is that mortgages to LLCs are more difficult to find, have higher interest rates, and require a higher down payment (around 25%).

If you’re aiming for long-term appreciation and low maintenance, the brick property might be worth the higher initial cost.

I still think looking for a TLC 2-4 unit can be a good idea to open up the ability to upgrade/renovate to speed up the equity position and tap into the ARV to pull your initial capital back out plus in most cases enough for the next down payment. 

Maybe agreeing to a % from the sale of each home in addition to listing the homes once the construction starts?