My old job used to send me to Jacksonville FL often for work so I had a decent understanding of the city.

@Brett P SwartsYou understand that those two cases are Stan Crow vs the Government, not the other way around, right?

Remember, understanding your local market, considering neighborhood preferences, and aligning your investment goals are key to making the right choice.

My understanding is they would only pay capital gains tax on the appreciation of the property since they inherited it, but how is that decided?

Your investor-friendly real estate agent should be able to help you with understanding where comps are so that you have a target to work toward. 

To help you in your real estate journey, consider the following road map:Educate YourselfClarify Your GoalsEvaluate Your FinancesBuild a Solid Credit HistoryChoose Your Real Estate NicheNetwork with Experienced InvestorsCreate a Real Estate Business PlanStart SmallResearch and Understand the MarketStay Informed and AdaptiveConsult ProfessionalsIt is important to keep in mind that accumulating money through real estate is a path that calls for perseverance, patience, and a dedication to education.

From my understanding, you can subto the current mortgage and then the seller can create a seperate mortgage for you to put in the second position on the property…I could be mistaken but I believe that is what you mean

Some sellers understand this and some don't.

I seriously don't understand something which I'm sure is very simple to everyone else, but in the real estate world, I often see people use the arithmetic annual average as above, but in all other investments, stocks/bonds/finance/banking, I see the geometric average annualized return which for above would be 16.9%, to go from 500k to 800k in 3 years.

They can help you understand the market conditions better and get an idea of what rents may look like.