However, his paranoia about having people in the condo without his presence, even with our trusted friend, seems suspicious to me.  

They have a situation that they are afraid of the repercussions of a tenant who may be a family member or abusive baby-daddy or baby-mom or some such familal interloper.Play on their paranoia.

It's about pain, and paranoia, and self-delusion and learned helplessness.

@Cristian Hernandez it just depends on your level of paranoia...I've seen guys here establish Wyoming LLC's that register Ohio LLC's...and on and on... 

@Cheryl Daniels, since you manage the property yourself, you might try appealing to his Paranoia by telling him that there will be no contractors on the property without you present to watch them.

My friend already has a huge paranoia about them, and, wow, it was interesting when she then found them.

I'm not sure if me actually seeing the property holds much value if I'm getting a professional inspector and an appraisal, but I can't help but get a sense of paranoia being that I won't physically see it and that I'd have to trust someone else's word. 

The seller will have to wait but that should take care of the paranoia the seller has.

Ivan, before you go off the deep end of landlord paranoia about liability issues, look at where you are.

You know what it's like being a novice investor, it's a mix of analysis paralysis and paranoia!