If they are charging you an upfront fee, they are more than likely not legitimate.

The paperwork was legitimate, what they used the money for was not.   

Maximizing Deductions: You can still claim tax deductions (mileage, repairs, management time, etc.) on both properties as long as they’re legitimately related to rental activity, even if one isn’t in an LLC.

Yes, I know there are legitimate wholesalers but just like used car salesmen (women), the bad ones make the good ones seem just as bad.

If it's a legitimate issue then you deal with it accordingly.

Despite the Ohio Building Code recognizing the basement bedroom as a legitimate bedroom, the appraiser did not include the basement in the general living area (GLA) and didn’t assign much value, if any, to the additional finished space.Has anyone dealt with this challenge before?

A Solo 401k which is exempt from UBIT on leveraged real estate may be a better option if you have legitimate self employment activity. 

While all the posts have at lease some legitimate points, I personally believe camp 1 is missing the opportunities present to protect assets under US law mostly because they don’t either understand asset protection, or don’t want to bother with it, so rather than do a proper evaluation they dismiss it as something that won’t work to justify their unwillingness to entertain the idea.Camp 2 is deluding themselves - which delusion has been enhanced by charlatans writing books, giving seminars, and selling packaged plans all of which either attempt to hide your assets or hide the ownership of your assets.  

I am wondering if the email I received on 14OCT is legitimate.

Well, if the FMV of the house is at or near $300k based on reasonable comps, and there's no legitimate benefit to the client's offer (i.e. all cash, fast closing, no contingency, whatever), I'd probably quit working with them because there's really little to gain working with cheapskates and bums who just want to steal other people's property.