You have a huge competitive advantage being a contractor since you can put some "sweat equity" into the deal if you wanted to save some money in the beginning, and you also probably are much better at estimating rehab budgets, getting great deals on materials, and keeping rehab timelines on track than the average newer investor.

The IRS clearly has some trust issues with attorneys.Commissions and fees paid at closing to licensed realtors and mortgage brokersPayments for purchasing all kinds of goods, materials, and property, including real estate itselfRepayments of loansI do not have my contractors' SSNs - what do I do?

People still need to go away, even during a recession, and Big Bear will offer an inexpensive alternative most nights and weekends, with inexpensive family activities.

Learned a lot about material costs and time to rehab properties.

Alternatively you could consider financing with another bank or mortgage broker, or look for hard money loans. 

Another alternative is what we do, which is help you get setup with business lines of credit so it's not tied to a property and does not show up on your personal credit report.

Instead, perhaps look into alternative financing so that if things don't pan out, you can then tap into that $100k your grandparents are willing to pony up. 

With industrial or properties involving hazardous materials (gas stations, medical offices) is the risk of environmental contamination usually covered by insurance (which the tenant would be paying for)?  

I've found in many cases the margins in real estate are not good enough if management is an expense.As an alternate solution, and I'm not sure how many investors do this (I do, my partner lives out of state), but I would say a solution might be to partner with someone in the market you want to invest in.

We think we’ll live here 1-5 years before buying our forever home.I’m open to alternative scenarios I haven’t thought of.