I'm not sure I look at it as screwing the landlord unless you believe a restaurant screws the landlord the lease the building from to run their business.

Do most newbies normally hire out a GC to build their first house? 

I'm looking to build a wholesaling business around SFHs here in Southern California (Riverside County, specifically), then expand in time to MFHs, possibly commercial.

Heat often isn't distributed throughout a building equally. 

Property Management is not just our business - it is a relationship between us, our owner-clients, and our tenant-residents.

I know a lot of people have been successful using a lot of debt to build their portfolio it's just not the way I do things.

There is not a bathroom in the building so unfortunately only option is a Porter Potty.

I am open to other scenarios.We have access to $200k ish in equity in our primary.We will soon have access to another $100-150k for retirement/investing/IBC/etc.I would like to move into my young family into a (new build or fully renovated side by side) duplex.

Option 2: Purchase additional properties and build portfolio I know that there are some tax implications to no having the mortgage payment to consider.

If your focus is to accommodate your mom and you can hold onto the property for a bit, I think you could definitely build equity and eventually generate cash flow from it.