Not sure about rebel scum - I am in the South - but mistakes are made writing deeds, plats have errors, and not all potential ownership rights can be ascertained without a proper survey.

A-defeasible fee estateB-leasehold estateC-life estateD-life estate pur autre vieI answered A, because the time is not limited as long as certain conditions do not occur.

If the sponsor is simply granted an ownership interest and that interest has an ascertainable value, the receipt of the interest by the sponsor is a taxable event.

How can this be as certainly people had hard economic times and moved either back home or into higher density living situations?  

With that said, you and her should both make 100% certain, at least as certain as can be, that there will be profit at the end of the rainbow. 

It's not exactly a step-by-step way to ascertain value, it's more (for me) about looking for yellow/red flags. 

There's much you can ascertain from the outside. 

Once you start renting the unit, you will also get a better feeling from the tenants as certain things they wont even look twice at as they don't care but that comes after your first property.As a side note, also consider any headaches you might have in the future with tenants if some of the things you don't repair break down such as HVAC or windows causing leaks.

I've asked title companies and mortgage brokers regarding how to ascertain the remaining balance on a loan and they've always told me they would have to get it directly from the lender, didn't know if an attorney could go at in a different manner.

Sometimes it's tough to get them with self-managed properties and (if you do) then it's hard to ascertain their accuracy.