I can speak to one member of your team - the CPA - as that is my area of specialty.As a beginning investor, you don't necessarily need a CPA before you begin, but it's one of the first things you'll want to have once you're under contract.Depending on what you want to do, a CPA can guide you through tax strategies in the beginning, so that all of your taxes are minimized to the degree they legally can be. 

When you get shortages of housing and the demand we had from Illinois people moving to Indiana, it was causing and still is to a less degree, bidding wars.

To the degree AVM's aren't reliable, access to MLS data is probably not the issue, though it is a common misunderstanding about AVM's.The real issue with AVM's is that they are based on public records data which doesn't include a lot of important details like floor plan, curb appeal, view, quality of neighbors, etc.

My mother has a degree in accounting, so her financial acumen is quite alright.

Nothing like those 3:48 PM sunsets and 20 degree high temps in December. 

Again it's not because you're white/black/gay...it's because you have a *****ng hoodie on at night when it's 90 degrees out. 

I am happy to be using my education and degree but I miss the fun and challenges of owning a business.I would like to invest in single family homes or maybe just land, since there is a lot available up here.

After two engineering degrees and 16 or so years in Dilbert-world, I finally realized that it wasn't for me.  

Since the house doesn't go below a certain temperature when set on 68 degrees are there any suggestions?

A bank of any kind is going to be very conservative in their underwriting but there are degrees of conservative.