We are experienced and have never involved anyone in our projects and have never used a loan outside of a conventional mortgage.

The purchase and sale of a business requires a lot more personal involvement than the purchase and sale of real property.  

At minimum, I am looking for the name of the deceased, a name of the personal rep/heir, and a name/contact for the attorney involved. 

We even had to do a lease back to them while the carport situation was being finalized.There is definitely some luck involved with every deal, but I think as investors we can create our own luck as well based on knowledge and experience.  

But the more property you buy the higher the likelihood of being involved in a situation where asset protection above basic liability insurance can SAVE YOUR A_ _ !

As far as the sale of a property with a mortgage on it, that all gets sorted out at close. ie, you bring your money, the bank gets what they have coming, the realtor gets what they have coming (if there's one involved) and the seller gets the rest.

I have been working with my contractor about 23 years now and when we get involved in a project I go to the site at least 4-5 times per week.

I will always take a deposit unless I know the people involved. 

You don't want to start playing sides here and getting involved in these kinds of debates.

It takes more effort and there's more risk involved (therefor more reward), but it just depends on your goals and how you want to get there.As far as focusing on areas with high demand for travel nurses, that's just 1 tenant-type of many in a changing landscape.