He lost me there too.If the seller remains owner, while the buyer is supposed to be making payments towards buying, then the buyer isn't buying the property...they're making donations to the seller.

And my parents lived there until recently. 

I had tenants whose parents were “assisting” them with their rent and they just could never make ends meet.

My parents still lives in Alexandria, VA, very close to Kingstowne as well as Springfield, VA.

A friend from high school contacted me about how her parent's have a rental in my town.  

My parents just bought a primary residence on more than 5 acres and aside from working with zoning/planning, we're not sure where to start.   

Any help will be appreciated.When investing out of state, a common strategy is to create parent and subsidiary LLCs.

@Neil Narayan & @Gary Parente, interested to find out more about your comment that a property has not been closed yet and you already have tenants for it. 

Or-  You could target students (3 high paying students with parental guarantees renting 3 rooms in a 3 bedroom home), travel nurses, Airbnb, etc. 

If you can't get a loan on your own, why not team up with your parents?