I'm sharing what I know so you can judge accordingly.   

I discovered they were also in family court and shared the court record with their comments to the family court judge that they kept their children in an inhabitable dwelling.

Are these landscapers(for example) that don't declare their income? 

Make sure your father in law declares the gift and/or pays his share of the taxes.

There's a reason people say, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

This is just not the experience or caliber of person needed to analyze and judge, and make investment decisions for hard money lending.  

You also need to serve a 60-day notice (not 30) and file a formal declaration with the County affirming your intent.

Usually, there is a checkbox on these forms for a declared total value - similar to the standard deduction on your taxes.

Thanks @Daniel Judge - I ended up with a duplex in Franklinton.

A quiet title action allows you to take the issue before the court and have a judge issue a ruling to "quiet" the title by removing judicially removing the encumbrance/cloud on title being created by the lease.