I'm use to a move-in inspection documenting the condition of everything at time of move-in. 

I have a friend/neighbor that wants to sell me his house below market value so he can move back into an apartment and travel.

They have a section on their website with multifamily deals for sale. https://www.greaterclevelandreia.com/PropertyList.aspx?

On these we are targeting g loans even we wouldn’t normally consider; EXCEPT for the fact that we are receiving so much collateral that we end up at 35% LTV or less.  

I don't have enough details to know whether it's a good move for you, but I think my numbers work out better when I'm the lead.

If you are unwilling to be committed enough to a lender to even allow them to do a credit pull then they are probably less likely to take the time to provide you a detailed cost/fee breakdown especially when they know you have a lineup of lenders that you are considering. 

The trade off course for STR route is more management/cleaning of guests coming and going/risk of no bookings vs not needing to deal with long term renters months at a time if that once they move in.

In fact, just finished one that I have yet to put on the market. 

I have been a Real Estate investor for about 35 years and have never experienced such incompetence.

What the IRS is concerned with is when you are doing a 1031 and want to purchase a property from a related party.