I would appreciate any and all comments / suggestions to cut down on our portion of heating cost while minimizing the amount of work and cost to us. 

Don't waste your time with unmotivated sellers.

@Whitney Hutten Thats a terrific criteria to have in order to minimize your risk.

This required very minimal work and was acquired slightly below market value.

If you fail to act, stop learning since you are wasting your time. 

In order to minimize her taxes, you could actually over pay for the house with a lower interest rate.

There is a bunch of waste space on the side of the lot that would be perfect for a new property.

I discovered he had lost everything and was homeless, poor guy.You really don't know this guy, and if he's not returning your calls, it might be best just to move on and find someone who is more interested in helping you.Acting like this is probably wasting your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

The plan is this;For the investor: (would like to be minimally involved, more so to be a hands off/silent investor) will contribute to the down payment needed to purchase the property with a conventional loan up to 25% of the LAMe: I will find the property, fix up if needed, rent out the property and manage it.

Makes sense - just minimal construction to add doors/windows/stairs and some plumbing.