That said, even with conservative rental income estimates, my living expenses would eventually drop to several hundred dollars less than what I’m currently paying in rent once the house hack starts generating income.I do have cash reserves to weather some rough patches, but the idea of pushing my budget this hard makes me uneasy.

My worry is that since he has built a 16 year track record of always paying his pref and returning capital on time, that he is now overleveraging.Does anyone share this concern?

Do you think SCI can possibly pay a mortgage for ?

The last one told me I'd likely pay a small fortune for this policy. 

Don't pay ANYONE or any company a dime outside of an appraisal until the deal funds.

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Any lawsuits should be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced, some debate as to SMLLC).

This would likely take coordination with a tenant at some point - (ie - plenty of notice to them that they must vacate in order for you to sell the property)Since your current home is free and clear -  you could do a cash out refi or take out a new mortgage on the new house to be able to buy your paren't house and pay off the mortgage.  

We explained to him we would pay for probate and pay to fix up the house to get it rented.The lease is for 5 years but dissolves once we close.

Get them to give you an idea of what they are paying for party /event space now in Amarillo and if they would sell your venue for you.

After all, you have no evidence they agreed to pay rent or any of the other terms.