If you struck the right deal with the up-top renters, splitting profits however you agree upon, you could still make out with a well-designed basement space. 

And I should manage it as MY money, not a freebie, not a gift, but something that is mine.They want to use a HML on an asset they want to fix and keep, and hope to refi...but with a HML for at least 6 months, and no experience of fix/rehab they likely will not come out ok, but hear it as a way to get in the game.They want to enter into a wholesale contract with no money to perform, another using other people's money thing.They want to manage a syndication, because they did real good in the real estate boom and now are real estate geniuses, kind of like selling ice cream in the Summer.

oh yeah I even worked for a place that did ice road trucking  with 18 wheel trucks on the Kuskoquim river. 

@Frank SzymanskiFor the rental in fl, here is what I would do: Remove uppers over the U, add nice lightsFloating LVL floorsMove cook top over to the left, nice hoodExtend an L with the counter top to provide seating on the other side, round the edge of the counter topBuy / replace appliances, may be counter depth fridge with ice and water on the doorUse quartz / granit for counter top, or butcher blockAdd nice lights, new big sink & nice moen faucetI'd lightly hand sand cabinets and spray new coat of polyGood luck

I think that would be a great way to get them to want to talk to you, break the ice and show them that you are a good person and a good land lord.

It's always struck me as a good way to get rentals when in an expensive market.Anyway, it's an exciting time in your life, so be sure to enjoy the ride!  

When looking at your bills a couple thing struck me.

No freezing pipes (OK, once every 100 years as it last snowed in Mill Valley in 1924), no sleet, snow, ice build ups on roofs, no housing tenants when the AC fails in August. 

The fridge ice maker is not working, I will be quite honest the appliances are pretty old.

This is a small one, but in my first rental it was only spoken that the tenant would shovel the snow and salt the sidewalk to melt the ice.