I see you have the CCIM designation, very good, so let me ask you your thoughts on the question posed. :)

I will be in charge of all design specs.  

I'm a very hands on designer & handyman, with a desire to rehab properties for retail sales while at the same time, accumulating a half dozen rentals for my family over the next few years. 

If you find that they do require real estate license to do property management there is a real estate commission that you may be able to file a complaint with and depending on what their findings there could even be a recovery fund.I would probably start with finding a good real estate attorney with specialized landlord tenant knowledge to give you some good professional advice.Just for future reference, a good way to find a good property manager is to go to www.NARPM.org and do a search for property managers in that local area, particularly ones with designations or certifications.I always hate to hear when landlord runs into a bad property manager it is never good news.Good luck in getting this resolved for your mother.Sincerely,Kevin Knight

While this house is both in the national and provincial registries of heritage places, it is not designated as a protected historic property by the city (surprisingly).  

The best place to go to search for good property manager National Association of Residential Property Managers. www.NARPM.orgYou are able to search for members in your local area and then look for members with designations like Residential Management Professional (RMP) or Master Property Manager (MPM).

Also I see my Carpentry career as a good way to network I am constantly getting business cards for painters, plumbers, electricians, designers with flipping in mind.

I have budgeted between $45,000-$60,000 for the building costs which I'm very confident I can make that happen and stay within budget, since I have done a lot of research and also helped a friend design and build his simular ISBU home for under $40,000.

Don't design your business card yourself - start with your company logo and go to elance or any of the other websites out there and get it done.Also, many lawyers would say that it costs them more money to review your "base" contract and make edits than actually going off their own tried and tested templates!

.- Priced and designed for the first time homebuyer and empty nester, there is almost always a good pool of people who will buy it from you when you want to sell it.