I actually have a copy of the lease but it is not signed... do you think this holds any weight?

While I know as dad's it is our prerogative to fix things for our kids and make everything easier, I think that she should feel the weight of $100K of debt as much as possible. 

They weighted in three major categories:Emotional and physical well beingIncome and employmentCommunity and environmentI think these lists have value as cities try to attract businesses and residents.

They want to sell this lot and dump the money into another community project and I believe their opinion will carry weight with the zoning committee.

Revealing other offers weakens my seller's position not only for the reason you outlined, but also because it lessens the chance to stoke a bidding war.

@Pandu ChimataThe issue is tough because if they are up there in age - they may want to pass down the property to their family with a stepped up in basis(avoiding the capital gain's tax).Seller financing is a technique to lessen the burden of capital gains tax. 1031 will also defer the gain...but this doesnt seem to be an option if they are looking for cash to retire on unless they 1031 to a smaller house.

@Clint Harris If you are willing to go with a commercial loan, you should be able to lessen the seasoning period required or avoid it all together.

We here all know real estate (or are trying to learn) so as long as you buy for cashflow and properly manage your risk, you lessen the impact the greedy people on Wall street can affect your own personal wealth. 

@Nate MorrisIt would make sense that the deal may need to be included in a separate sale.Generally when purchasing property, you want to weight more of the value into items with lower depreciable lives.

While you can find partners to take some of this weight off your shoulders, you're still going to need to put EMD down on properties (risking tons of money), your reputation on the line, your investor's confidence in you, due diligence costs (inspection, scopes, lease audits, etc...), travel costs if you're going out of state, and much more!