My idea was to leverage the equity in his home to get into a/or some cash flowing properties, i would purchase those properties and operate them and let him collect 100% of the cash flow from it or them. 

We had planned to do a lot of the work ourselves, but learned we can’t take down a wall that really needs to come out to make the whole place feel bigger, because it is load bearing.

They are just quick & dirty ways of doing cocktail napkin math on properties. 50% rule - The costs to operate a rental property typically averages out to 50% of the gross rents on an annual basis.70% rule - When flipping houses you will probably make some pretty good money if you aim to make offers that allow you to buy the property for 70% of the ARV less the renovation costs.1% rule - If you get a property where the monthly rents are 1% of the purchase price.

It's value is a calculation of:Net Operating Income (NOI) / CapRateFor example, if the NOI is $10k/year and the CapRate is 10%, the property is worth $100k.You need to speak with other local investors / brokers to determine what the right Cap Rat is.

Finally, you could just buy a single family home and operate it as a short term rental.

At this point with only 6 months left to wait, increasing interest rates, as well as higher debt load from remodel, it may benefit over the long term mathematically with the secured lower rate, because the margins in Denver are tough.

Cash invested: $3,000 STR/BnB operation located in downtown Seattle.

However, other park operators have done well by rehabbing older homes (assuming the needed repairs are less than $15,000)...in the end, shelter is shelter—especially with the shortage of affordable housing that is available. 

The rest of the money is used as operating expenses and to grow the business.

There quite a few people here on BP who operate in this price range.