Renting to previous owner?

[Stefanie Daugherty]

My husband and I are just starting to get our feet wet in REI in Stockton, California. We are newbies who are reading/listening to everything we can get our hands on (lots of BP content of course) and have put offers on four properties with no luck yet. I'm looking at a short sale whose current owner prefers an investor buyer who he can rent from. The amount he's willing to pay in monthly rent is slightly higher than property management's projections, which means the property would provide a small amount of cashflow for us. Some pros are that the previous owner knows the ins and outs of the property and will likely continue to take care of it. Some cons are that he might be too emotionally invested in the house, which might complicate things when it comes to maintenance, eviction, etc. If we were to buy this property, we should still screen the previous owner just like we would any prospective tenant, right? What do you experts think... put an offer on it or hold off? The property is in decent shape in a decent location with a very low purchase price for the area, so it's tempting.