Especially for someone like me who is very visual and sometimes has a hard time comprehending their vision before hand. 

Make a visual with you and a friend who is handy and knows a little about it.  

I'd honestly figure out a way to take over your brothers mortgage - try and quality for it so your brother can take his name off - and that way you don't need to bring any money and you can just close in a much simpler fashion and less closing costs.

For the vacation rentals, I usually put in higher quality upgrades, wood floors, tile bathrooms, crown molding, treated ceilings and quality blinds. 

I think this could easily be scaled.Step 1 - Build Your Buyer's ListI've assembled a list of Cash Buyers using Craigslist however I'm not very confident in the quality of my list.

Every driver is required by law to obey the speed limit, but the speed limit is broken all the time.I wrote up a 48 point DIY checklist for the purpose of visual inspections BEFORE you hire an inspector.

I write them in a futuristic past tense in order to visualize myself achieving them before it happens.

It almost feels like New Orleans in some spots.The Creekside part of it was formed in 1993 as a nonprofit effort to improve the quality of life in the area.

Can anyone suggest a licensed and insured drywall/finish plaster company that they have used in the past that is reliable, does quality work and whose work you can vouch for?

Not for low quality tenants, but more for whether a lot of people rent there.