This place is fantastic and though I'm a bit new to it also, I've come to realize how important and essential this place is to my development.  

It is essentially a construction loan, most lenders like ourselves would need to be in first position, and there would need to be some value in the land as collateral against the loan.

Essentially, the government always has the 1st lien.There is a mortgage on the property that the owner has not paid on in roughly 3-4 years.  

Essentially she puts up the house and funds, and I do the work.  

@Jonna Weber is a great resource for essential information.

Essentially it's a value add project 4 parcels.

I was able to get no work done, so I essentially lost an entire week of work dealing with selling my home.

If it's cash flow, you're very unlikely to achieve that in Olympia, operating from afar and buying single fam (certainly not townhouses) in the 200k range.You may cashflow slightly in other areas, as @Dawn Young mentioned (Yakima, Tri-Cities, Spokane) but again, operating from afar, your returns are likely to be <8% cash on cash.It's been 11 years since you left WA state...unless you have inside tracks to property managers, contractors or reliable people on the ground, you're essentially starting from scratch.  

Essentially that phrase is saying that real estate investing is pretty predictable once you get your head wrapped around it.

Maybe I am misinterpreting the Tax rule here, but does it essentially mean (on newer properties) your first 10K is essentially tax free?