I saw 203 as an interesting way to minimize my initial investment on a multifamily rental property but perhaps i'll need to consider a different option Reliability is another huge factor. 

In my line of work in marketing, I'm paid to create solutions and ideas that don't currently exist. 

High Yield SA (such as Fidelity) would be a safe, yet liquid solution. 

It's often that business owners don't know how to easily implement solutions to their roadblocks so this is not super easy. 

Because we desperately want and need these questions answered, and because of the basic "truth" of people paying more for more and less for less, and because we believe (mistakenly IMO) that appraisal is nothing more than math and therefore a mathematical solution must exist out there somewhere if we could only identify it, that it is in fact possible to answer these questions/valuation problems.

What's a reliable way to find the phone number of the owner?

What solutions do you recommend and do I need to worry about building department not allowing me to do it?

The only thing I would suggest would be to find out what caused the issue from the beginning and if the solution used was the “best option” or a secondary option.Other than that, nothing to be worried about based on the info you supplied.

Anyway, anyone in this same situation that found a solution they like?

After two weeks, my guess would be one of the above.I've bounced off of this scenario more than a few times, and I've come to two conclusions:1 - They're going to leave you hanging, be late or not at all with the rent, try litigation, etc...and in the end be a vacant property...with late/missing rent payments.2 - ...and, my solution (see above) became a case of, "If you can't lose it, use it".