Buying from someone you know

[Therese V.]

The area I am looking at purchasing is where I grew up and my family goes back to the early 1900s there. A family friend is thinking of selling his home and my uncle is his maintenance man and told him I am looking for rental properties. The guy has not put the house on the market yet but wants to figure out a price to offer it to me, and wanted to make sure that I don't want to just buy cheap from him and flip but actually buy-hold it (which I do plan on doing). My uncle even wants him to throw in the furniture to have it be available as a furnished rental.
Because of this, the guy also knows someone that is selling a multi-unit place, and since my uncle is maintenance man for a bunch of people he knows many of the landlords in the area. Also, a 5-unit is being sold by people that I went to Church with and actually came to my wedding. That particular family, it turns out, owns a bunch of rental property and is looking to get out due to retirement etc.

How does one handle buying property from those you know? Should I even mention it to anyone or just treat it like any other house I want to buy?