I am the agent for the seller as it is my parents, and we are purchasing. 

His storyAt a young age -and despite having several siblings- he felt impressed that he was going to need to take care of his parents when they were older, so he went forward with that mission in mind.

His wife and child may be moving as well in a few months. 

What this lender  failed to understand was the taxes that showed as delinquent were from the previous parent parcel tax ID that no longer existed.  

That last paragraph is the best advice ... consult a specialist.It is possible to structure ownership of a U.S.A. entity such that it is a child (100%) of a Canadian corporation.  

at first they wanted the deficiancy I went to bat for him and we got that waived.. and of course there was 7 judgements for 7 different moms for child support that had to come out of that 1.7 as well.. :) WE pulled it off and I was pretty proud of my negotiating skills against wells.. but it was running up on a quarter reporting end and I guess they just really needed that loan off the books..

We got a shaman to come in and it turned out there were 4 ghosts including the previous owner who had passed away there and the original owner of the house who had died there during child birth.

The ones who have succeeded had a relative nearby in the area they were investing in, a child living in the home, or grew up in the area they invest in so they at least know it really well and know the difference between a good street and a bad one.

I'm sure a parent of such a child as I have mentioned above, would take great offense to your ignorance on the matter. 

Even if I was the senior lender for one of the new developments, in a downside scenario I wouldn't know what to do with the land / the half-finished or finished (but unsale-able for whatever reason) inventory.Therefore - I don't want to invest / make a loan in the development JV itself - I would rather make a loan at the parent-co level where there is collateral in the form of completed properties that are generating rental cash flow - they do have mortgages on them.