Hey @David Cherkowsky - going off of what Jaron already mentioned, there's no real "tool" to track appreciation because its very subjective based off of whats been selling in your area. 

We actually switched from Yardi to Appfolio due to price and overall a much easier system that all our employees can use (again, no expensive per user charges).  

No I am not making decisions for my parents.  

Since you are already in the main unit, this is a no brainer.

I want to buy the property on terms and demo, build a new house.I want to structure an owner finance deal with him where I either pay him interest only on the lot or no payments for 18 months (or until the new house completes and sells whichever is earlier). 

You could even let them double end the deal for 5% commission because you’re taking out the competition so there’s no chance of a bidding war.2.

1k rent is about 8k net income, $100k/property $850k for package of 10   100k each (with 10- 15k in reno at least) with about 8k net income, no thanks.

But the general answer to your question is no.

Property has no "on-site" employees with exception of cleaning staff.

No other mortgage on the STR.