Any insight you have on determining whether a house is truly a tear down, or experiences with 203k financing falling through would be much appreciated!

I would simply remind them there are 4 ways to make money in real estate - appreciation, cash flow, taxes, and mortgage principal pay down.

This however gives you 1/2 ownership, a will or inheritance would determines what happens to her half upon her death.

@Harrison CookYour post kindles lots of questions.In the "good old-days" most heating systems were vastly oversized for the building they were heating - energy was relatively cheap, insulation was non-existant to poor ... so it was easier and safer to {drastically} oversize.Today, while energy {in North America}  is still relatively cheap for the moment,  we have a much better understanding of how to make buildings more efficient {though you might not think so looking at the construction industry in the U.S.A. and Canada}  and there are often more cost-effective measures than simply replacing an old, over-sized heating plant with a new, over-sized heating plant.You really need to - or at lease should -  perform a heat load analysis to properly size your heating system, a component of which, is determining the rate of heat loss of the building envelope.  

Zillow is operating with data and a strong market influence that the public simply does not have.

Last, you could get a loan or line of credit against your portfolio of properties, this could be called a portfolio line of credit or simply a business line of credit.In terms of mentors in Philadelphia, I have mentored a few people in the area and would be happy to help.

   $4200/yr / $35,000 investment = 12% COC return - 12% is achievable if you know what your doing. )Then you quite simply need to divide the total required income by the monthly house income to determine how many houses you need: $41,000/ monthly income / 350/mo/house = 117 SFH'sI imagine your reaction is something like this:"Okay.

Seriously, Mike, have you ever heard of a lender getting all excited and calling a loan due simply because a transfer into an LLC owned by the borrower "may" have violated the due on sale clause? 

Not specifically the properties or types, but the cities or states themselves.Do you have states in mind that you look into individually and then begin to determine potential cities? 

Your gut feelings are to be trusted when you are responsible.There are a couple other things I would determine.