You need to have the friend have the "someone" put the offer in written form with the proof of the ability to close.

And the ability to realize that revenue stream is dependent upon community acceptance and the willingness of the town to support a zoning change.

I get contacted multiple times a day by wholesalers with deals priced way too high because they offer whatever it takes to get it under contract with zero intent or ability to ever close, if they can’t “broker a deal”, they just walk away leaving homeowners in even worse position.

With many REITs trading at low multiples of FFO and liquidating assets at close to if not all time highs so they have the ability to buy into new real estate assets at a much lower buy in it bodes well for future growth long term.  

But your right, you may have more turnover because they have the ability to buy soon. 

For an experienced fix-n-flipper, you may have the ability to acquire the property for 5-10% down and have all the renovation costs financed. 

People will sell you a bill of goods on what a "B" property is - confirm that with a contractor, property manager, or someone else you trust).

“If anything were to go south in our transaction, not only would you have the ability to sue me, you would also have the right to submit a complaint to the licensing board.”

Most the time that's a death sentence for a bill.

There also might be other lying elements such as cloudy title or family issues that prevents them from selling.