For the security deposit, let them sort that out.

You could try reaching out to ask questions and maybe that would turn into a sort of mentorship type relationship if adding a partner is not on the table. 

Make sure the numbers so that if you put in 60k to 70k you're getting some sort of annual net profit so you aren't having to feed the investment. 

This is too important and also sort of a personal question depending on your state and specific circumstance and I suspect not a one size fits all answer would suffice. 

You might study up on this Atlanta business that is growing their business with private offerings (funding)   padsplit.comThey have a shades of gray solutoin for the unrelated adults, and rooming house zoning that is sort of working in the Atlanta area.   

I think this is the first step so they can know who has the lead pipes before they pass a local ordinance to require the replacement at the property owner's expense.It's a "first registration, then confiscation", of sorts.

He started out clueless and he is now just doubling down with the lies in a poorly executed blackmail attempt of sorts.

I'd love to buy up some land in the Christmas or Santiago Mountains, but I love hunting for and photographing rare snakes so that's sort of a niche use haha.The Chihuahuan desert and western mountains of Texas are no joke, it is some of the most remote, unpopulated, water-starved, but breathtakingly beautiful country in the entire US.Just FYI it's not that west Texans dislike solar or wind farms... we love money!

., all sort itself out.  

My post above regarding Catskill, NY and designating a host sort of ties to your idea however in this case I don’t think it would work.