But I don’t think you made your thinking visible to OP that buying in personal name to begin with is the basis for your comment.

So, I borrowed the money from the person that stayed in my first house as she had just sold her house and made a fair amount of money off of it.

The schools ignore personal finance and business and hence people enter the world totally clueless as to basic concepts of business and finance.  25 years ago when I was financing small investors I made a loan to the purchaser of a small 12 unit apt complex.  

I PERSONALLY feel the attorney should be neutral and alert me to red flags and lay out my options.I 100% understand why my real estate AGENT would push me, so ...

@Austin Mulhern going through nearly any bank is not what we want to do. 

Given the state of the stock market over the last few years, I'm looking for a way to invest in certificates to gain an interest rate higher than what banks are offering and returns that higher than the stock market right now.

@Agustin Conti personally if he wanted to rent a pressure washer to clean it, I would reimburse the cost but I wouldn't paint it.

In my personal opinion location of the property is paramount at the moment. 

We own both a mortgage company and a real estate business, we do a ton of real estate investor deals, and, personally, my wife and I have flipped or built dozens of homes.

@Jeremy MahoneyThese are very personal questions that require more info to answer properly but below are my answers.