Is there anything I can do to ideally get them to not list the house and sell to me, I’m assuming there might not be many options, especially since the sister and I had agreed on a price that was below market value given I was planning to invest money to remodel the home and was planning to honor his wishes of not having the home knocked down to make a townhome or new home.

Alternatively, I could hope that my next assignment will be in a better market with more options, maybe lower rates, and more cash on hand.Should I accept that no market is perfect and get in the game now, or hold out for a year to enter a potentially better market with more capital to invest?

I can invest my own funds and can secure a small amount of extra funding through friends and family.You're right, I'll just start underwriting the deals and making offers to learn.

By "partial" I mean renovating the kitchen and bathroom, painting the place, re-tiling the floor and maybe adding some smaller features that can make a difference to prospective buyers, such as new A/C units, new internal doors, or maybe even sell the place furnished (home staging is not really an option here); with no or minimal demolition, and hopefully without electricity or plumbing issues.

From what I was told by a Chase lender, most institutions use the same underwriters, who implement this 2 year requirement.I understand that private lending could be an option, however, I'm not sure who would lend to me with favorable terms based on my lack of real estate experience.

The land is currently  pretty much all. jungle would a 2 bedroom home be the best option or would you guys try to build 1 bedrooms 

The down payment option + traditional will most likely be lower.

But here in Texas, Water Softeners can go for 4-8K and I won't want that extra expense, plus the yearly maintenance on it. 

I am curious how you landed on Michael Blank's vs all the other options?

But I'm open to other options.