@Karen M. As

I know you have stated that you are thinking about doing the management of the building yourself, does that mean you are going to stop using this person as the "unofficial manager" and increase his rent. 

For that person, a bad situation of the forced relocation is being made worse by owning a house.

More of a hands on person. As

The reason is that when a person dies, all property held by that person as at the date of their death is then held by that person's executors and trustees under their Will." 

If you have high-value real estate on the market and someone brings you a buyer who closes the sale... what would you expect to pay that person as a commission or finder's fee for making the connection?

(Please BP dont ban me for criticizing a strategy a well known BP persona advocates)So if you are from the Baltimore area, know the area, invest there, and use your common sense to help mitigate the risk.Although always keep in mind, while Market Knowledge is our greatest mitigator of risk....sometimes it blinds us to being able to properly analyze risk across multiple asset types, multiple markets, because you inherently in your mind minimize the risk inherent in an asset or market that you do understand, while over blowing the risk in ones you are not as familiar with. 

In my area, a duplex is a solid investment and is attractive to a young person as a first purchase to own and live in.

They have to have skills that I can't get from a contractor.Sounds like this guy satisfies #1 for you, but if he's basically going to just be a contractor on the project, you can hire other contractors without having to give up equity.Also, I'll *never* partner with a contractor, simply because it makes it very difficult to fire the person as a contractor if he's not doing a good job. 

It is against real estate board rules for a licensed agent to pay any unlicensed person a fee for a real estate transaction and they could lose their license for doing that.I would have your agent partner re-think this strategy.