I have minimum real estate experience but my mother has flipped 3 homes in the last 5 years.

Here's my situations:My mother has a land plot in Hayward CA and is presently worth ~$300k on Zillow/Redfin.

In fact, the first home I grew up in was a duplex that my mother and father purchased as a middle class family just getting started. 

Good to see another Aussie here (even if you have defected to the mother country lol )  Best of luck with everything, there are some excellent resources available on here 

Come up with your own "rule of thumb" based on your criteria and your market(s).1%, 2%, 50%, rules don't, and shouldn't apply to REI...they should apply to milk...as in,1% = Milk only a mother would love.2% = Milk that is growing in popularity50% = the increase per year in the number of people drinking 2% milk (I'm told this)

She planned to leave that small house, put a little work into it, and having it serve as a separate mother in law suite in addition to the newly constructed main house.So far, the first acre has a septic tank, well, and a foundation built.

Buy a single family home that has some form of separate income suite (walkup/ walkout basement, Mother-in-law suite, ADU) and rent that out to off set your living expenses.

You know, back when his mother was running the LA club.

We sat next to the mother of Miss Florida Teen USA and got the skinny on pageants etc.

My suggestion would be to get an FHA or owner occupant loan and purchase a house hack type of property.This could be a single family home where you rent out the rooms, a single family home with a seperate mother in law , or a multi unit !