Quote from @Kyle Hilliard: You can't dictate where people sleep.

My goals dictate the strategy we choose to follow.

Two of the notes have already matured and I did not receive the balloon payment as the security instrument dictated.

Niche down into a particular strategy, and then let the strategy dictate the property and location.

Learning about financing will dictate our budget.

Hi Chelsey, this is definitely a complex situation, with the financing question, but also a mix of family, tax, insurance, and long-term ownership goals.I’d split this up into multiple scenarios before structure:1. control vs. liquidity – freeing your mom from the debt and payments without forcing a taxable event or losing long-term control2. financing constraints – wildfire risk + LTV limits may dictate structure more than preference3. tax timing – stepped-up basis vs. partial sale vs. debt-backed transfer all land very differently long term4. operating reality – whether short-term rental cash flow actually supports debt after reserves and insurance volatilityA mistake I see in situations like this is jumping to a “creative” structure before modeling different scenarios side by side (sell vs. partial transfer vs. debt-only solutions).

Price and terms dictates the value of many purchases.  

The zoning dictates what is allowed.Many zoning districts restrict the number of units based on lot size.

Because the Property Class dictates the Class of the tenant pool that the property will attract.The Tenant Class greatly impacts rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.Both Property Class and Tenant Class will affect what type of contractors, handymen and property management companies you should target and be willing to deal with a property.The Property Class will also impact the maintenance & renovations you do to, “Maintain to the Neighborhood”.Why is that important?

I also like the strategy of modeling multiple offer prices simultaneously — letting the numbers dictate the ceiling ensures both discipline and flexibility.It’s a smart way to balance competitiveness with lender-grade safety, and it reinforces the value of data-driven decision-making over intuition alone.