In the end, you need to be the one determining if a deal is good or not regardless of what your agent tells you.Slightly unrelated, it's always interesting when people want "investor friendly" contractors.

The city has halted all new short term rental permits, and all signs point to the fact that only the owner of the property that lives at the property will be allowed to get a short term rental permit when they resume (if they resume) issuing permits.

I still think the VA loan is something to take advantage of but signs do show that the SD market is slowing down and SD is a cyclical market historically, meaning what goes up will come down. ultimately, if you are buying for the long run and plan to keep this place for 20+ years then don't worry about cycles, just buy smart. 

(not so important but if they only require 15% down on a single family home that is usually a good sign that you are working with a flexible lender) Can I change title to my LLC?

@Nicholas Bolcon it's common for there to be a difference between the tax assessor's page and the actual legal use as determined by the building department.

The costs for repair are held in escrow until the contractor (you'll want one that understands the 203k process) completes the work and you sign off on it.

Our longest-term tenants have been riding the wave and sticking it out with us...rent started at $625/mo in '09 and last year they signed at $900/mo.

My question (I'm new to this and just trying to get creative) is lets say there is a deal here (whatever the numbers say)... is it legal for me to sign a contract to get equitable rights to the property.  

Be sure to also determine the total expense of foreclosing if she can't refinance in time.

Then after, the contract is signed and the first quarter of the draw is paid and cleared, you receive a peace order 5 days later in the mail.