I have a good friend to whom I'd like to give some good advice.He was recently let go from a job (of 25 years) where he made $50,000 and had the exclusive use of a nice house.

I’m very skilled at construction job costing, inspections, design, and management.

I like Sean's suggestion of just setting it up in case you utilize it and find replacement property(s) within the allotted timeframe.This is where I may be of value to you. 

If they're overcharging you however, then I'd suggest getting a new management company, as I don't believe that's an ethical way to do business.  

I'd suggest looking for an expierienced mortgage brokerage to work with.

I am new to this so I am running out of ideas but in reality to start living together we need a 4 bd house for our 3 kids and a bunch of pets so we know it would be a house around $800K until we can make more money from our jobs and side hustles.

A BPer suggested I take a look and like what I see.

I'd suggest diving deep into the local market trends and connecting with fellow investors in the area.

Quite honestly in that scenario I get frustrated with the seller's agent because you know that The agent if they were doing their job would explain to them that that is not generally how these things go and that they are being unreasonable. 

You would need a fairly flexible job to use your 2nd home that much.