For added info, there's no nearby locations that I'd like to have a second home in that I'd use regularly.  

The reason we were interested doing this is we know the house well, what it does and does not need, and it is nearby where we live. 

A large mountain bike and hike park is being built nearby, which will connect Old Fort to Black Mountain by trails.

They want him OUT asap or contributing some rent, but for whatever reason they have chosen to do nothing over the last decade except stockpile resentment toward him. 

So if that's a 3-family, you look up all the 3-family sold on the MLS nearby.

It's in the downtown location actually, there's a nearby creek about a block away. 

He hired a property management company to manage it, but he also has a close friend who lives nearby. 

There may be some local factors (nearby construction development or major change) influencing the owner to sell at a discount OR perhaps the owner has not been keeping up with capital improvements and the tenant base as suffered and therefore actual collections of rent have been impacted.

Potentially choose a bank local to the area you are investing in-we made this harder on ourselves by not having a branch nearby.

Potentially choose a bank local to the area you are investing in-we made this harder on ourselves by not having a branch nearby.