When my parents passed I sold a house for $375k that originally cost $5.5k and another that had cost $15k for the same price. 

I've used them for years.https://forgetrust.com I also use Forge Trust for my self directed ROTH IRA with checkbook control. 

Similarly, you can find businesses on Yelp and Google that don't give (advertising) business to Yelp and Google.But if we want to balance out the force, sure, here's Darth Vader's mortgage broker directory (which also lists folks who do not send business to the parent-lender that sponsors the particular directory in question):https://www.rocketmortgage.com...If you know of something like that, that knows broker from banker (in California and some other states, that's concurrently also the difference between a fiduciary and a salesperson), that isn't run/maintained/etc by a major national wholesale lender, I'll happily plug that instead when this comes up in the future.

I would therefore have control over the property and how it is managed, even though we would all have an equity stake in it.

Apps/systems are great if you're somewhere in the middle, don't have the margin to cover the 8-10% of gross income + 1 month leasing fee, are a control freak that wants 100% visibility/control over your investments, or are a "systems" type investor who relishes operational efficiencies.

Helocs give you more control of the funds and timeline to identify it's next use. 

I did all of this quickly as any young kid who is technologically able could, and the company controller who I was working under was impressed by my speed of completion.

For me it’s stick with what I can own outright and have complete control over.  

My parents' city next door is 3. 

It will let her know you’re serious and you will get some control quicker.