A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t been to it already, you might want to check out the BP blog: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

Are you moving closer to a sick parent?

Although prices are high enough to limit returns, buying property here is still relatively cheap.

When they look at your credit, they look at home much debt you have relative to your income. 

Would this arrangement run afoul of related party restrictions?

@Benjamin RichardsAs was said by others,  interest on money borrowed for an investment deal is deductible.Also, money borrowed from a relative is not "hard money", it is private money.

Any visits- inspections or incidental fees (not talking about fire/ weather related)5.

As you mentioned only half of the cash out is used to construct the new addition,  only interest related to the debt that was actually used, half in this case,  to fund the new remodel is tax deductible. 

What are you losing money to thats not related to any of these?

Could be a new agent who doesn't know any better, could just be an odd thing that the particular agent likes to do, could be that the seller wanted it mentioned specifically in the listing, could be that the agent was sick of getting dumb questions from owner occupied buyers who don't know any better....Who knows.