We want to help widowed Aunt Tilly, living in genteel poverty, not Donald Trump or Uncle Fester, whose extra “coin” means the difference between two months a year in Cancun and three.  

I've purchased a handful of seller financed properties.Interesting the sellers have all been older widows....

I am a widow, and my husband died in 2009.

I have always operated on the understanding that this refers to equal treatment of those who are married, divorced, widowed, single, with children, pregnant.So if you selected an applicant who is single over one who is divorced, it's a violation.If you charged a higher rent for a divorced applicant with 2 children vs a single no children, it's a violation.If you selected a married couple over an unmarried couple, it's a violation.Obviously, most of the time, the decision landlords make are not based on a single reason, often times it's a combination of factors, once you have gone through the process of background checks, employment verification, tenancy history verification, there is still a subjective element on how your interactions with the applicant went...I have personally selected one tenant over another because one followed instructions, and one did not (incomplete application, showed up late during a showing, sent back an application with a camera taken photo of the form in dim light and out of focus etc...), and I have even selected one over anther because one has tattoos every inch of his body, and no I didn't tell the applicant he was turned away for excessive body markings and piercings.Getting back to familial status, if it is a violation to select a married couple over an unmarried couple, and if you tuck "roommates" under the umbrella of unmarried couples, then it may apply, perhaps loosely? 

They have been somewhat manipulative w/me, being a widow, but they have plenty of family around (they took over the daycare from one of their own relatives) who should be able to help them. 

When I bought my first investment property, a two flat in an Illinois suburb, I was quite fortunate in it being one of several properties that a widow was selling to cash out her husband's portfolio.

Sometimes, the sellers are the widows of the investor who actually managed the properties and the elderly women have no interest in trying to be a landlord -- it's easier for them to sell the 10, 20, or 30 houses their husbands acquired and live off those proceeds.I almost never see a current active landlord selling his/her stock in my area.

Such as age of owner, year the house was last bought, widowed, tax delinquent, etc?

What if she never served, but she's a widow or divorcee of a serviceman?"

of hours maintaining that property, & you are the beneficiary, as is his widow.