My recommendations are going to be more difficult and specific than the above, but they will serve you well for life.Learn accounting - if your high school has a course, take it, if not, get a managerial accounting book and learn the basics.Learn MS Excel - there is not a single real estate investment that can't be modeled using MS Excel, and know how to use it well will put you light years ahead of your peers.These two action items alone will make a huge difference in your future.My last piece of advice would be to start changing the way that you think.

If on the last day of May you have photos of something in good condition and on the last day of June you have photos of the same item damaged, the documentation will serve you well when you tally up what she owes to you.

It is hard when you have to rely on others to get requested items in.

Use the line items (not their quoted costs) as a starting point to determine what expenses go into you cash flow analysis.

I'd say that so far, I'm leaning towards new siding, I'm going to have to get an exact price on what that would cost and make a final budget, because there are several other items that are still not totally nailed down as far as either if we'll do them or not and others like the new carpet where we could spend more or less.

Reason why is that you'll need to understand how to structure the LLC based on whether they will be equity partners, or if they're simply loaning you money.I would first figure out your strategy and then start putting the items in place to take in money when you're ready.

(List)What is the best way to determine and estimate the costs of fixing the items on the list to bring it back to "investable" condition for a flip.

We purchased a building in Jan with a bad tenant in Chicago, IL.The previous landlord had a simple 2 page lease without information about security deposit, etc..Now that tenant is suing us for not disclosing where we kept the security deposit funds among other items of missing paperwork found in ordinary leases.

The inspection and attorney review period uncovered some unsavory items.  

@Inderpal Chadha I see a potential problem with Item 2, wherein your friend transfers the SFH to an LLC.