I'd never trust the numbers of a homeowner, unless they were a licensed contractor themselves, and even then, I'd double-check and verify everything myself.Since you don't know any contractors, I'd reach out to your network (friends, family, coworkers) and ask for references.

If it's a smaller older home that is going to be a truly entry level home for an FHA buyer and will sell for less, than you can probably do a nice reface and save yourself a few thousand.

.- I recently passed on a house that has a methlab in it that had high levels of some hazardous chemicals that seeped down to the studs.- I have stayed away from homes that have fire damagePlease let me know what issues you see the most profit to be gained from and the ones that you just don't want to handle.

As I intend to bring A trusted lender with me for future purchases it would almost be like the bank making a continuous stream of income in away. 

Large lenders might be less likely to notice, provided you take appropriate steps like placing the property in a trust first.If you've never done Sub2 before, I probably wouldn't start with a $2MM deal.

again, just my perspective because I do it for a living, I'm required to maintain a high level of suspicion. based on what he says it sounds like there is certainly a way through this, like you said.

We are eager to get to the next level. 

Maybe some land trust that he’s part beneficiary of but I would not want to be that trustee when the lawyers start digging.

I like the trust avenue for each property.Also, if i buy it outright, and sell it before a year, i pay short term capital gains on every payment received.

https://www.har.com/content/newsroom/Houston Real Estate Highlights in May: Single-family home sales rose 1.0 percent year-over-year, with 8,157 units sold, the second largest one-month sales volume of all time;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes increased slightly from 51 to 52 days;Total property sales edged up 0.6 percent with 9,721 units sold; Total dollar volume increased 2.0 percent to $2.8 billion;The single-family home median price rose 3.4 percent to $243,000, which represents an all-time high;The single-family home average price increased 1.3 percent to a record high of $305,511;Single-family homes months of inventory was flat at a 4.0-months supply, the highest level since last August and equal to the national inventory level;Townhome/condominium sales fell 6.4 percent, with the average price up 2.5 percent to $213,912 and the median price up 3.0 percent to $170,000;Leases of single-family homes declined 1.8 percent with the average rent up 3.7 percent to $1,845;Volume of townhome/condominium leases dropped 22.6 percent with the average rent up 1.0 percent to $1,580.