Any explanation here is just technical and doesn't really tell you how your situation would be.

If you have a friend willing to loan you $200K and doesn't care if they lose money in the deal or you have a background that suggests you've got a higher chance of success than someone with absolutely no experience in real estate then fine.If not, most starting out have a hard time finding private lenders and don't have the time to wait on a bank loan or don't qualify for a smaller down payment.

You can be sued as an agent if you mislead a seller. 2) You have to decide how you feel about the above, now the good reputation side is that some people honestly don't care, and want to go with an option where someone will just take it off their hands as fast as possible.. but as long as you are transparent and honest with them then I know a lot of wholesalers who have integrity and still make an ok amount of money in a transaction for technically being the middle wo/man.

Is it correct that since it is her primary residence, she is exempt up to $250,000 from capital gains tax and the money does not technically have to be put into another property?

I usually say I am one of the owners (there is my wife and then technically there is the bank..) - I'll get back to you is always a good response.Boundaries are important.

I came from the hammer-swinging background, so office type work doesn’t come easy and I haven’t had any experience with it in the past.

Tenants have their own accounts on Cozy and pay directly for the credit and background checks.  

So I am going to verify income and references on that applicant before running a background/credit check.

I know, can't rely on pslf/bootstrap yourself millennial/etc), and having more cash now to invest more aggressively.You are correct that technically rehab costs could likely also count for those purposes, but currently, rehab funds are limited and would need to be available for downpayments/reserves, and I honestly don't have time with my schedule for either sweat equity or coordinating contractors.

If you want the person to stay, qualify them as a new tenant, do a credit / background check, income verification etc.