Pretty much my entire county is full of super high priced homes with super high taxes and the ones that seem like the numbers could work are in terrible neighborhoods that I wouldn't even want to buy in!

Terrible.  

FHA is pretty standardized in what they do so as long as you have your finances in order and the property isn’t terrible (structurally) you will be fine.

I don't know what their credit scores are, or much about their finances in general (if they could supply a down payment, I should ask).  1) If I have the right perspective about this not being an 'investment' property, meaning no real cash flow, but they will be building equity into a place that my exit strategy would be to rent out or sell when they pass - is it still a terrible idea to rent to family?  

Agree that we doctors are terrible investors as a whole and frankly most overspend relative to their incomes.My main focus is really on trying to figure out what and where to invest. 

It was in terrible shape but they were rehabbing them and getting great rent/value ratios on them. 

LTV is loan to value so how much your loan is compared to value of the property. 75% means your Loan is .75x whatever the Value of the house is. the rest of the .25 is your equity. keeping 75% equity in the house is really high and not normal unless you have terrible credit, no experience, reserves, etc. usually you should be able to pull 70% out of ARV

Gold is a terrible investment unless you time the market perfectly.

Norcross, Georgia that is...This would be my first deal, so I'd love to get your input on this.I have a friend who rents a town home in Norcross who has a TERRIBLE land lord.  

Terrible deal.