You've gone down the rabbit hole so far that it would be difficult for you to just bail at this point (Speculation on my part but, it would be  difficult for me to bail with that type of capital infusion), and they know it. 

.^ while that is purely speculative and may not happen, I see that happening....Overall I think the markets we have seen grow over the last 5-7 years will continue to have good performance as these workers rebalance across the nation with the newly allowed work from home culture happening.

If they generally speaking have enough cash and income to live off of, but they don't want to run the business any more, I'm speculating they are getting in their later years and just aren't up for the business aspect any more. 

I've never developed a strip mall but have picked the brain of someone who has in the Dallas area over the last 30 years.You make your money by buying right, taking risk on land speculation.

I'm not saying that there isn't a bubble developing, but the booming real estate market here isn't from speculation and bad loans.

@Shital Thakkar Speculation around Amazon HQ location here in Austin is one of two locations: 1) IBMs current campus just north of Braker and East of i-35, it's being leased out by Brandywine Realty Trust 2) Anderson Ranch area, which would be a new build versus renovating IBMs campus south of 45 and between mopac and 183. 

This is not investing, it's speculating.

You can consider some fringe neighborhoods that have potential turn key properties to rent, hold and speculate the market for upgrades in 24-36 Months.

@Debra Piggy Spay foam on the wall is unacceptable and will be challenging to remove.Not knowing what your rental agreement states, the terms etc it's difficult to speculate.

Be careful when talking to officials (including the police) because there may be mandatory reporting requirements which would make everyone's life more difficult.If the sellers haven't tested, I don't know how much help they'll be because you'd be asking them to speculate.