@Jason Inks, I agree with @Christopher Williams for the most part The lower east side of Overland is defiantly C  grade, while some areas in the western portion are D. 

I am a little worried about the re-finance portion and if I can get on a conventional mortgage with my current dti ratio.

The appraisal is done beforehand because you will have to get approved for the construction portion of the loan which is based on that appraisal.

I'm leaning towards using a hard money lender to start for i don't have enough cash to fully invest in a property, (I could cover the rehab portion if need be) and i do not have enough connections yet to start raising private capital.

I realize rehabbing myself isn't scaleable, but it helps mitigate my risk initially by keeping my capital investment down and the house hacking portion means my "investment holding costs" are minimal or 0 because they are absorbed into my primary living expenses.

Usually portions of drywall will need to be removed to look at structural loads, mechanicals, insulation etc.  

Out attorney said that his clients are all able to claim the rent-back portion as a repayment (and not taxable as income) however our attorney is having heartburn over that and is narrowly citing 2 o3 use cases that preclude and award from income tax.   

He’ll be making more on the portion of the portfolio he manages this year than I will.

She will receive the initial "buy" amount that we agreed on, a portion of which is going to be paid up-front in order to bring her mortgage current and give her enough to move out to Ohio, and then a percentage of the final sale amount.The reason this flip works is because we are avoiding going through two purchases and also avoiding financing fees from a HML on the purchase of the house, since the owner will still own the house during renovations.Since she doesn't own the house outright, this isn't really "seller financing," but maybe more like a joint venture?

You'll never be able to get enough rent ($12-13k/month) to cash flow.If you pay $1MM for a $1.3MM property from your parents the IRS will likely see the difference as a "gift" and you could owe taxes on all or a portion.