Help needed creative offer

[John Warren]

HI BP community,

My wife and I have an opportunity to view a five unit building in an A area near our home this Saturday. We have been looking for a building to owner occupy as part of our strategy to "house hack" (I know this is not 2-4 units, but the town is awesome).  This building was found through a direct mail campaign, and is owned by an elderly lady. After talking to the owner several times, we are finally getting to see the inside of the building. We need your advice on how to make a "creative" offer. Here are some of the issues:

-The owner is elderly and wants to stay in the building.

-The owner recently had to evict a tenant who broke into her unit.

-There are three vacant units in the building.

-We will have only about $40,000 to offer. We are in the process of selling our home, so we may get an additional $50-75,000 after we sell.

So in this case, what are some creative strategies we could use? Could we offer a master lease with an option to buy? Should we offer owner finance with a legal contingency letting her stay? Has anyone bought a building and let the previous owner live in the building somehow?? I know the BP community has some very creative investors (I am listening to one of your podcasts now @Ben Leybovich!) Let me know what you all think!

Thanks!

John