I suggest building a strong team around you (broker, mentor, lender, etc) for your first investment at least to help you gain experience.

Keep pushing forward; no venture no gain...Kudos,Mary

I'm out-of-state, so I put more weight on the BP member recommendations than I would a Google search or Yelp.  

So you have to leave 20% in the house and one could with draw the rest.Unless you fall under the capital gains exception I recommend you look into a 1031, so you don't have to pay tax now.

Postal Service address,Voter Registration Card,Federal and state tax returns, andDriver's license or car registration.The home is near:Where you work,Where you bank,The residence of one or more family members, andRecreational clubs or religious organizations of which you are a member.You can exclude up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 if married filing jointly) on the sale of your home if you meet the Eligibility test.Eligibility Step 1 - Automatic DisqualificationDetermine whether any of the automatic disqualifications apply.

Recently my mom has been looking at a bunch of houses in the Clinton Twp. area in hopes of either finding rental properties or doing flips (I think flips are her ultimate goal but she is a novice real estate investor as well and would like to gain more knowledge before she begins).What are your thoughts on the north-of-16-Mile-Road property market for my mom's sake?

To gain more hands on experience in real estate investing I began focusing on working with real estate investors.

The problem with marketing to attorneys is that their legal liability to their clients is to provide the best advice that will gain the client the most money. 

@Justin HerringtonWhile Thorold does not give a maximum occupancy per dwelling unit in a direct manner, it appears to define any building providing lodging to more than four (4) occupants as a boarding house:“boarding house” means a building in which lodging is provided for more than four (4) persons in return for remuneration or for the provision of services or for both and in which the lodging rooms do not have both bathrooms and kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of the individual occupant;In turn, they restrict a rooming house or lodging house (but never marry definitions to that of the boarding house) as follows:Where a dwelling unit contains rooms intended to be used in conjunction with a rooming house or lodging house, the occupants may share a single bathroom provided that: (1) not more than nine (9) persons occupy the dwelling unit; (2) for each additional nine (9) persons or part thereof, there shall be an additional toilet, handwash basin, bathtub or shower; and (3) access to the bathroom can be gained without passing through: (a) a habitable room of another dwelling unit; or (b) an open area, which is not normally heated during the period of the year which heat is required by article 2.22.3 of this by-law.So, it appears to come down to whether boarding houses are permitted where you property is located (and whether they need to be specifically licensed), unless your building would be seen as a non-conforming duplex.This is the question, I believe Thomas was asking.

Look at that $550,000 three year gain!