It has Never been abused, that access to me, in 40 years.

One month after moving in, the two girls wanted to break the lease because one's boyfriend (the third tenant) had become abusive.

There will typically be a round of questions during the process like what if your partner gets hit by a bus, what happens to their ownership? 

Then the tenant started sending abusive email, saying that the issue of the dog was "a ******** reason to refuse me this apartment."

Social services will give her a social worker that will help assist her in finding suitable housing that she will qualify for.. at her age she should be in ASSISTED LIVING facility,  because she has been manipulated regarding her finances and needs someone to help her with that, basic elder abuse.

However, you don't want to be considered as having committed elder abuse by taking advantage of a senior. 

So it seems even riskier to me not to have it totally under our control because if it does succeed it seems like there's a real risk either in bad luck - the seller gets hit by a bus, disappears, whatever might cause a complicated legal situation - or bad faith such as the seller seeing the success of the business and engineering some way to back out of the option so he can take it himself.Also, this business would require at least some physical improvement to the property.

It was in more of a family area and a bus stop nearby led to the slopes but it was a couple miles from the resorts and downtown. 

What if circumstances out of your control (you get run over by a bus full of nuns) leaves you unable to work?

Paying cash means you are receiving a return on that cash at the present mortgage interest rate.Your cash is being abused by not earning it's keep, lying dead in a property earning next to nothing.Pull it out, spread it around with minimum DPs and make it work for you.If you can borrow money at a lower rate than you can invest it that is the entire principal behind investing.