However there is a not insignificant portion which are outright criminal/predatory. 

If you own an LLC and hate math, couldn't you just hire a booky/ assistant an hourly salary for 20 hours a week to do the math portion and contracting scheduling for all the repairs, and use your license to oversee the company?

They will be losing a huge portion of business here this fall; I'm getting calls weekly with customers ready to move from them.

Another item that I'd love to clarify is that the new max size of homes only deal with the "above ground" portion of the home, so anything that's below ground doesn't count toward that total.I do think that this will provide some more affordable housing.

Remember it’s all about the numbers.Good points from everyone. the key is local controls.. this idea of doing it with this dream team you create is what is going to get some in trouble.. dream team can work or you will get skinned alive.. mainly in the contracting and rehab portion of the transaction.. 

And since the property is still be financed I would only be able to pull a portion of the equity...?

Is the total cash needed $4.5M or is that the equity portion?

Is there any way I can negotiate with a builder to see if he/she can demo the portion of the detached garage overlapping into the lot I'm selling (this is just a workshop that was added onto the garage & is hanging in the exact distance I need demo'd to be able to sell this) , while patching up the detached garage properly so it is still usable. 

I am new to the rental portion of RE investing and am analyzing the following deal.

Depending on how bad is the foundation state (how many inches you have to correct), is very possible the sewer line will disconnect/break in the horizontal portions.