So I'm sure it's been asked before, but is it better to pay off debt or buy a MF in a C or D neighborhood 

In most cases, a security interest is perfected when it hasattached and been properly filed with the appropriate filing officer (the Secretary ofState in Sacramento or the appropriate county recorder).A security interest attaches when:• there is agreement by the parties that it attach;• value has been given; and• the debtor has acquired rights in the collateral.Once perfected, the secured party’s interest is protected against the debtor’s othercreditors.The Financing Statement should not be confused with the actual security agreement.The security agreement creates the security interest.Although a written agreement is not necessary where the collateral is in the possessionof the secured party as a pledge, a security interest is usually not enforceable unless thereis a written security agreement, signed by the debtor, describing the collateral.Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)—Division 9Division 9 (entitled “Secured Transactions, Sale of Accounts, Contract Rights andChattel Paper”) of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) contains the unified andcomprehensive scheme for regulation and control of the sale, creation and priority of allliens and security interests in personal property.

It could be that you find, rehab, and/or manage the property to earn your extra ownership percentage, or it may be that you kick in more money at purchase or in expenses over time, or it may be that you put your credit on the line as the one signing for the debt, or anything else you negotiate.

Model to analyze the opportunity, decide if better to buy the asset, the debt or the (heir's) equity.Buying the Asset requires some level of probate.

If you have to resort to credit card debt or personal loans to replace stoves/furnaces/dishwashers etc.. then you are already in a bad situation.  

On the surface it looks like you have two main factors, either people aren't earning enough to save up 20% down (totally possible as this is aimed at millennials who might already be up to their neck in student debt) or it means that housing prices have accelerated past the point where people can easily cobble together 20% down.  

Debt or Equity funding?

You have to live somewhere, with student debt or not.

Are you buying little houses with debt or commercial 5+ unit apt buildings @Sherri Li?

Even if the BK has completed with the discharge (ie debtor released from debt), it is not a given that the owner has lost house to the bank.