And in the short term I need to find a way to increase my annual income.

It's funny, many  just pay what a lawyer puts down as their fee and never question it. 

Charles County, MO, and I unknowingly house-hacked a property at a resort a few years ago.My goal is to increase my position in RE and learn as much about the industry as possible.I'm happy to be part of the community now (officially) and look forward to interacting with you all.

The properties are zoned to increase density, and best of all the area is affordable and experiencing huge rates of appreciation.

With live-in flipping, how can you figure out what part of your gains is from the real estate market increase as opposed to gains from your own sweat equity and rehabbing? 

Just increase the next rent to recoup some parts of the costs.

The goals that I hope to achieve through real estate investing are: 1) to provide a cash flow stream for my mother as she gets older and requires assisted living or nursing home facilities, 2) provide a cash flow stream for my younger brother (who has Down's Syndrome) as he gets older and requires assisted living facilities and increased medical attention, and 3) provide a means of early retirement for me and my older brother.While listening to BP podcast #276 (my favorite) the other morning, I had that lightbulb moment of how to get started in real estate investing. 

Best advice I can give you now is to keep increasing your RE knowledge through books, podcasts, webinars, etc!

NYS has some funny rules and being that we are not local we chose to use Marchioni & Associates (Ashley R.).

I think it is funny how people think the realtor is acting shady when the OP is trying to wholesale a deal about to be listed by a realtor...As mentioned - $5k is not a realistic number, houses aren't listed $50k-$65k under "appraised value" becaue they only need $5k of work.