If / when he comes back with a no or counter, than perhaps you can make a slightly higher offer with a meaningful seller second mortgage.

That way if things go well, you end up in a lot of deals together, but if one of your buddies isn't as involved, there are no feelings hurt if you go a different direction on the next deal.Most importantly, I  think of real estate investing as a crock pot, it takes a while until you have enough rentals fixed up and renting to the point where the cash flow from rents each month is meaningful.  

They'd much rather say, "I sold my home" a mindset that maintains their dignity--a subtle to nearly worthless distinction from a FICO/future qualifying POV but meaningful to some homeowners.I intended to post URLs to support what I said in my initial post but, apparently, as a new poster, I cannot post URLs until a couple of days has passed.

I think this is a meaningful conversation to have on the boards and again, kudos for putting it out there and causing it.  

This is my first post here and hopefully, I'll get some meaningful advice too! 

and that is meaningful for me. 

The Decedent's estate consists of all assets, both real estate and personal property, along with all debts, both secured and unsecured.The heirs' interest consists of the equity in real estate and personal property.In order to generate any meaningful amount of money for heirs, a property would need to have enough equity to pay both the cost of sale and cost of holding and probating. 

However, it's not meaningful unless you've forced equity into the property through the renovation.

@Andrew Sparks welcome to the site.

My Spark business cards pays 2% back on everything.