The area is a nice quaint area, property is .56 acres, stately landscaping with evergreens and shaped shrubs. the back yard has a cute river/creek down a little slope from the house. walking distance to little downtown area and park, 2 miles down the road from the top high school in the state, and 5-10 min from department stores / home depot / walmart / strip mall / nice salons and spas etc. hope that helps answer your question. 25 minutes from downtown Milwaukee, WI. a lot of lakes in the area. 

I have done a fix n' flip, and have a short term vacation rental currently.

Short of risking tax evasion, you can either: (1) plan to pay the taxes twice; or (2) find some alternative method to do wholesale (e.g. option method). 

If you inspect 75 to 100 houses in your market (in a short time), you'll not only be an expert, you'll also find a great deal (you might not know it at the time, but you will stumble on one.)Best.

I'd love to give them a short-term out (we purchase the property from them by getting a mortgage after X months) and a long term option (say, 3 years).

Short answer, give a call to your contractor license board and explain what you want to do, it could be anonymous.

So for the short term, you need to keep enough funds to protect for any negative cash flow you may encounter up front.  

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I haven't invested there yet, but I've heard great things about investing long distance in Huntsville, AL.

As Dan said I would look into Airbnb depending on how short short-term is.