Buy a duplex or small multi family, live in one unit and rent the rest.

From my understanding, your child could buy property/ hold mortgage for you to live in.

Many in single LLC though do it in a way to make their lives simple, For Example 123 Main St LLC  etc.

If you are this close to the border or cost you need to purchase through a corporation or through a bank trust (Fideicomiso - Think of this trust to be similar to an inheritance trust or a living family trust in the US.)At all times you are the legal owner of the property, the best way to see it is as a permit or license that allows you to purchase, use, enjoy, rent, renovate, inherit, etc. a property in this zone.

This would be to get an idea of the layout of the bedrooms/bathrooms and other living spaces.5.  

I live in South Florida and it's basically cooked down here so I have been scouring my state and found fairly promising properties under or around 250k but it's 5 hours away from where I live?!

Unless you live there and are up for it, you’re going to need to find a great property manager. 

I STILL live at home and my parents are urging me to get out of the house but I don’t want to make a big financial mistake and purchase something out of emotion.

For example, I bought my house 10 years ago at auction and have rented it out and lived conservatively there is only 100,000 left on the note.

If you're using regression to predict how much a market would appreciate by I think that would be a much easier regression task then predicting how inflation would increase the price of a gut rehab (increased parts and labor prices due to increased cost of manufacturing and increased cost of living respectively).