Science, monetary policy, stock market are all just speculation but people still believe and live with it.

You are a high w2 earner, The house is worth 110k today, you are buying from your grandma for 60k in exchange for free rent for life, upside ARV of 200k.The costs of owning the house will help provide tax relief on your high w2 earnings, you are buying a great chunk of equity that will pay off in the future, and you and your grandma are doing each other solids. 

So the Janitor usually wins, defined as making more passive income than your expenses, because his expenses start off so low and stay low.Unfortunately, after you play it a while, you get to know what to look for, like when that one stock becomes available for, I forget, $3 or something ...

Adding a response here in case anyone stumbles across this thread in the future.

They get a faster and easier sale because buyers can imagine higher future rents.

Anybody else concerned about the future of commercial real estate with the coming robotics and AI?

I've used to it myself to analyze all of the 35 units I bought over the last few years and personally talked to 100's of other investors who've analyzed and closed on great deals using it.I'd love for you to actually try it and would be happy to receive and incorporate any feedback you have into future releases.

Is it possible for her to buy the house/land then we subdivide the property (property has an approved preliminary plat for subdivision into 2-3 separate lots, electrical and pluming lines have been put in place for future development).

I found your post while looking for my own info about doing a potential rezone that would allow for future development in Denver.

As someone based in San Diego, I’ve also noticed that investors eyeing California real estate tend to focus on potential future development or expansion (especially if you have the patience to navigate local regs).