But the question posed was how can we clean it up....I think.Well, follow the lead of the good ones, begin underwriting the deal, asses the real risks involved, employ tatics to reduce or eliminate identified risks, and assess the value truly given and charge fairly for the real risk assumed.

Not sure you had that info provided as it was an auction, but the one-year time frame might be the same so wouldn't risk going beyond a year.

Im assuming you felt very confident in your due diligence to take such a risk.

The leasing agent may be seeing some risk in your flight from the lease.

Or is there too much risk with the potential code/permitting issues?

The more deals that you do and the more risks that you take, and the more you are open to market fluctuations, the more likely that sometime you might have a loss.If it were me I'd get the tenant pre-approved and get on the path to the tenant buying the property, next year the interest rates could be higher or the value could be lower.

I've bought a couple dozen, but it is just like buying on the courthouse steps, along with all of the challenges and all of the same risks.

I realize that there are some risks, but should we dive in and do this?

You'll likely get some good opinions as other members here answer, but good golly it is a doozie of a questionI can tell you CFP and CFA certified/chartered individuals will require additional information including life goals, risk tolerance, age, human capital, lifestyle expenses, etc.

The key is getting a big enough down stroke when they move in to reduce the risk of them trashing the place.