A fellow landlord failed to keep property insurance on his LLC and one of his units sprung a leak and destroyed my unit underneath his... the damage is extensive and he mentioned possibly just signing the title of his unit over to me...Is a short sale the best way to go about this kind of transaction?

I am considering doing a soil test and going ahead if it comes out clean.

For about $250 an inspector can tell you if the property has termites, crawl underneath it to examine the foundation, and see if the roof will need replacing before the next winter, and much more.6. 

Site descriptionSite description includes facts about location, configuration, topography, drainage, soil and subsoil, hazards, easements, deeds, restrictions, encroachments, access, utilities, and zoning.Improvement descriptionsQuality standards for foundaion, exterior, interior, windows, doors, lighting, HVAC, fire protection, parking, ADU, and functional utility specified in construction details and specs.Project viabilityThe economic viability of the local area is essential to the project's success.

The notice must state the date, approximate time and purpose of entry” Civil Code Section 1954(b),(d)(1).The landlord has been sending his contractor to work at the house—3 weeks ago, he was fixing the shower because it was growing mold underneath the shower tiles.

Now if the heirs agree to sell it to your partner then you cant talk about how you go about selling it.If it is farm ground then the productivity of the soil is the determining factor of the price of the land.

for instance you can have a perfectly good home do everything right but if its in Texas with their bad soils and the clay moves on you and your house cracks like humpty dumpty house well not much you can do about that you shell out the money to fix it.. you just lost 2 to 5 years of any cash flow you hoped to make...

Lo & behold, there was evidence of a buried oil tank on the side of the house, hidden underneath the deck & porch lattices. 

For other parcel use types, for your sake I sure hope you do a boundary walk, view soil surveys, and all the other due diligence you should before handing the cashier's check to the parcel owner/seller.

Also made it all contingent on site eval and what comes out of soil eval/recommendation.