If you are looking maximize on a minimal amount of income, you will want to use both types of contributions.Speak with your licensed tax advisor to determine the best formula in your situation.

Have you determined if this is a conventional, or some type of portfolio loan?

From my perspective, they put a down payment on a house, get a hard money loan to pay the rest, use the remaining for the repairs, when it's finished the price of the home goes up, you sell the house and pay off the loan and whatever is left over is yours.But I'm confused who determines the price of the home after it's been flipped and how it's determined.

But at least this will help determine which of those six you should go for firstGood luck 

In my opinion sites like Rentometer, Zillow, etc. are not good places to help you determine rental price because they are just estimates, based on whatever algorithm they use.

That is, you're spending more money than you will ever get back when you sell the home.One of the big factors in determining the market value of a home is the market value of the homes surrounding it.

The appropriate rules can be found in Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 527, which can be found at the IRS website.If she owns it, but you are using it, you'll want to make sure that you are paying her a fair market value or you could run afoul of those very same rules.Good luck!

This means that as of now my goals are very general: to learn more about RE investing, determine solid methods for purchasing without my own money (b/c I'm a poor college student), how to get my business off the ground, and wholesaling as a starting point. 

My realtor has had no luck disputing appraisals of this nature in the past, based on the depth of information the appraiser typically uses to determine a value. 

You can talk to other investors about an area that you might invest in to determine what kind of tenants you might get.