If you don't have two months or more to wait, then it sounds like your lender is asking your family to give you gift funds for your down payment or closing costs so the funds can be documented.

This could help you confirm who you are communicating with and can get you direct answers to your questions about the property.Facebook ads are cost effective but lead quality, in my experience, has been very poor.

Finding an accountant specializing in real estate taxation and financial planning sounds like a solid plan.

While running some of our options thru Awning.com, we noticed that having a hot tub in some areas changes the revenue dramatically (+/- 20k+), while in another area only a few miles away a hot tub has little to no effect on the potential earnings.Can anyone help us understand why this might be?

It sounds like you want to let the person live there for as long as they are alive and then the house converts to you.

Sounds like my thinking is inline with the broader consensus.

It may sound like a long time, but real estate is pretty much the only investment where you can generate cash flow, build equity with principal paydown and grow your net worth.

Your journey into real estate sounds like an exciting adventure, and it's wonderful that you're eager to learn and grow your portfolio.

For your situation from what it sounds like, it is probably more advisable to go the multi family route.

It sounds like you don't want to do much which also translates into not a lot of value add so you might consider a conventional loan and more of a turnkey option.