Why even concern yourself with the legality if it’s self serving and harmful to your family member?  

The reasons cited for the market not following suit this time are concerns that increasing GDP, especially in Q4 of 2024, and policy changes such as tariffs could lead to a resurgence of inflation and thus a change in the Fed’s projections, with there being 150bps of variance between certain Fed members projections (Source).

Are there any particular investing strategies or methods you’re leaning toward?

Would the 9-year balloon concern you, knowing you'd need to refinance or pay off the balance at potentially higher market rates in the future?

I would be very concerned about someone holding the 50k deposit for finish work at the end..

My only concern to look out for is that things can go 'rural' pretty quickly if you start venturing outside of town, and most lenders are going to put the brakes on financing if the appraisal lists the property as 'rural' (has to do with what they perceive as the availability of future tenants).Watertown, NY - It probably is as good as you believe, but the lending licensing is pretty tricky up there, so its just  bit more difficult to find lenders that operate up there.

My biggest concern is managing additional units and tenants.

It does not mean that they are not legit, but it is a concern. 

Also, not very easy to use typical methods of valuation like comparable sales - there is no public tax assessor's website that you can just freely grab this from. 

This lack of responsibility and fairness raises serious doubts about the integrity of the program.Additionally, Kristin Witherspoon has also demonstrated a concerning pattern of wrongful terminations.