Danger: Fairly new investor trying to invest in multifamily in a out of state market, thousands of miles away, with little market familiarity, no well establish & trusted professional network there, and money burning a hole in their pocket is one of the riskiest conditions I can imagine, second only to perhaps trying to flip in that remote market.

Richmond still has a reputation from the outside as a dangerous city, but this is a big generalization.  

That is the dangerous part.  

If she is interested in disposing of the property and she accepts my offer am I still in danger of a contest?

If it's truly 3 distinct SFRs and you want to use Fannie/Freddie financing, it'll be 3 contracts, 3 escrows, 3 mortgages for $40k each, 3 sets of closing costs, etc.That being said, with loan amounts this small, I'm guessing that commercial or hard money financing might just be better if you can find someone to blanket loan on all three at once just for the sake of 1 set of closing costs.Using fannie/freddie financing on loan amounts that small, the closing costs start to become a ridiculous % of the loan amount.

Over-extending yourself and growing too quickly can be very dangerous.

Knowing what I know about the region from real estate and tech industry news, which is just enough to be dangerous, I would not take any equity out.

If your lender won't lend to you because you walk away from an illegal, possibly dangerous, possibly costly situation, find another lender.

Mold is nasty and very dangerous.  

Of course, avoid places that you think might be dangerous.