I read your bio and given your relatively new status as an investor and it appears you will be hiring a management firm as you are not local to Baltimore, I'd recommend you:Establish yourself as an investor of mid-priced properties first so as to gain experience and a solid financial foundationWork with your attorney to draft contracts to protect you as much as possible when you do allow pit bills in any propertyWork with your insurance company to make certain you will be covered despite the breedIf you can't get insurance or your attorney sees no good way to protect you from liability then you have a decision to make about how much of your personal wealth you are ready to risk to law suits.  

@Brian R.Your scenario would most likely not fly with the HUD Contract ReviewerThe best scenario is for you to be the lender and your relative be the owner occupant

You can't do that with a T-bill.Ryan, everything your relative said could very well be true. 

The only information you've provided is that you would apparently buy it cheap and then rent it out to your relatives.

Given your relatively strong financial position and youth buy out of state in markets that good decent appreciation.

Sounds like a lot of work and gotcha fees for very little money when you talk about it.If you're hearing No. 2 and not No. 1 from your relatives, don't curse them out and make Thanksgiving awkward.