The worst part is that they are demanding it when they've been laid off for two seconds and there are a lot of resources to help them.

@Jacob Sampson I’m from the Cleveland area , it’s not in the best area but it’s not worst either if you get what I’m saying.

The worst thing that can happen in discussing seller financing is that they say "no". 

That is in my opinion some of the worst advice I see given when people say 'go ask the City'...Personally I would look at the code yourself, then if you think you are right you ask the planner questions like 'this is my research, would you agree I can build an 8 unit building?"

I could use a mentor of some sort that could tell me step by step.

This is a fix and flip loanFred, did you ever get this sorted out - it's probably too late. 

This is really what I see as worst-case utility scenario in Old Town but it's what I use to conservatively estimate my actual cash flow.Thankfully, these are all factored into my cash-flow ahead of time, so it all works out, but I do have plans to upgrade windows, insulation, heat system, etc. eventually.

Does anyone know how big of an issue it would be to sort out the zoning and how likely it would be that the city would rezone either or both of them? 

Worst case is we go through with the purchase, spend a bunch of money on renovations which leaves us with depleted cash reserves, can’t get current house sold or rented then job loss hits.

I sort of did the same thing when my long term tenants moved away.