Find a way to help other investors doing what they do, and maybe earn while you learn. 

I would be interested in what areas are hot and any A, B, C properties and typical cap rate type information.

Cap Ex and Repairs can typically be closer to 8-10% each.

Typically, a buyer can't/won't/shouldn't take control of a property until they close on it, because they do not own the property until they close.If you rent out some other person's property (or estate's, in this case), I hope you plan to get some sort of written agreement from the current owner/estate.

Varun,Typically, the Insurance company would not contact the Mortgage company unless the policy is being cancelled.  

I'm working with the owner of an almost 100 year old small (<900 sq. ft) craftsman bungalow with small rooms typical of a home of this vintage.

The HML will do 70%, what does a gap lender typically cover?

A regular conventional loan for an investment property doesn't require you to live in the house for a year.FHA requires that you must owner-occupy the property but not regular conventional investment loans.They will typically require 20% down though so if you're looking for 3.5% you won't find that if non-owner-occupied.

.- Typically the buyer side doesn't need any documents to be notarized.

The local 1-2 location banks typically have the most flexibility when it comes to creative financing.