I have never bought a property for nothing but I was able to get many many communities with nothing down and great seller financing terms.Listen to the seller, find out what their motivation is, their pain point then present them with a solution and see where it goes, when the terms make sense have the guts to move forward.

Hey guys really appreciate the reinforcement of sticking to my gut and staying patient.

My gut feeling is that the county and perhaps other lien holders that I'm not aware of, have harassed him in the past.

If it is a complete gut job then they will both be considered new. 3.

Unit #1 is gutted and unit #4 is almost complete.

Not sure a life estate adequately accomplishes the intended outcome, anyway.My instinct is that I would keep the inherited house as a rental property, either after my step-dad passes away or chooses to move out; or, by renting it out to my step-dad for the rest of his life and, after his death, to other tenants. 

It's been gutted to the studs inside, has a new roof, and has a pool (needs work plus a possible expansion), with room for new commercial buildings to replace the ones that were demolished or for an expansion of the motel with either more rooms or a few condos for short-term rental.I'm considering selling a single-family home that I own outright in another state (Lake Havasu City, AZ) to finance this deal. 

Gutted and renovated the entire home.

It was a 3bd/1ba 1050sqft, gutted to the studs.

If you are gutting the bathroom, moving things, complete replacements will drive the cost.