The owner seems to want to not lose ownership of the account altogether.

You have to prove you did everything right and then because of “empathy” for the poor snook who “fell into you schemes” you may lose anyway.This is a legally binding transaction that will be treated that way by the law.

On the other hand, maybe you are going to lose some personal income due to retirement and want the cash flow.

Miraculously, I didn’t lose my shirt, but I broke even on one house and, due to other circumstances, had to walk away from another.

Quote from @Matt Meier: If I were to do this, wouldn't the lender lose out on their commission? 

If he owes a decent amount on the property, wouldnt the conventional route make him lose whatever interest rate he has?

Sadly, there are quite a few people over 65 on the verge of losing all their retirement money they put into these guy's investments that are doing terribly while they both go start new ones.

There are people here who have no problem losing hundreds to thousands in negative cash flow monthly.

The buyer was happy that I recovered her money in full that she wasn't even mad about losing the deal.  

My recommendation to serious real estate investors is buy an opportunity in any segment, do the math (it's all about the ROI; some investors fall for the 'commercial' is more prestigious chest thump to find that losing money isn't very prestigious at all), and plan on proactively running a business.