Offer the owner's widow an extra 5k or something to extend the date the balloon payment is due.

I contacted the family and discovered the owner had passed away without a will and there kids from two marriages and his widow and it took over a year to get the Title cleared so it could be sold.

(ps: in side note I used to follow Shah biography, I'm wondering if the widow of the Shah is still living in Paris ).

I own multiple bldgs in Chicago and always have work that comes up (Leaky faucets, painting, broken widows, etc).

My aunt would like t take her half and buy a home out of NJ as she has retired and widowed

What I know is she is an elderly with high probability of children, not currently married; possibly widowed, so.

Sadly, my uncle had some psychological issues and at the time of his passing in October 2014, he had allowed the house to deteriorate to the point where it didn't even have working restrooms, the roof was missing in places, about 70 dead mice were found throughout the property dying after eating electrical parts from knob and tube wiring, the entire basement had over a foot of standing water and we found several nests of black widows. 

I have plenty of room to bulid a 4-Plex down the road.The 3rd property is a 4-Plex (all units are 2/1) that was in bad shape inside and out, had tenant problems, and the owner (an elderly widow who wanted get rid it) could not afford to do repairs.  

One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation.

It could be a big red flag, or just a widow who doesn't really know and doesn't want to get into it until she gets an offer, in which case your agent will likely need to really walk her through it if she doesn't have her own agent.