Perhaps there's a way for her to convert this house to either her primary residence (For 2 years) or rent it out and use it as an investment property so she can get more creative with the sale of the property to save on some taxes.If this isn't possible she'll want to try to offset some of the gains from the sale with capital losses as well as using any improvements and selling costs to lower her capital gains.

Yes, many DSCR options allow shorter seasoning periods.

The no new permits then become a permanent cap on new licenses with a limit much lower than currently is issued.Research.....

What options are available for FHA borrowers?

I've been considering the same for investment options. 

Most lenders I spoke with said HELOCS are not an option since there is still a lien on the property.  

What are the best ways to leverage myself to get the next property and grow my portfolio (i have some options but not sure which is best)? 

So I plan on going with the FHA 3.5% down and hopefully going for something in the 3-400k range in a neighborhood like back of the yards, mt greenwood, south shore but also open to other options.

When I approached motivated Sellers I would give them the option of selling the home to me, or I could put it up on the market and get them full retail price for their home.

There may be cheaper options than 8%.