Since he is a real estate professional the $25,000 limitation and modified AGI tests do not apply.

Also rental restrictions seem to limit options.

It is important to realize that everything in town is only walking distance away, the town is surrounded by both NFS and open space, and there is a limit on how high you can build. 

If you are only turning it on a few hours a month, we are talking pennies of electricity.I have a clause in my lease that states landlord can use power for maintenance, repair and improvements.

If that is the case, if you know what you are doing, you can rent a power generator and hook it into the system for the inspection.

This way we were able to close and have limited liability as the seller, and buyer has a bit of security if tenant does not move out. 

I am pretty sure there is a statute of limitations  

However, I'm sure many of you have faced this problem before and have already figured out how to overcome it so that your cash reserves are not the limiting factor on the amount of buy and hold deals you make.Any feedback/ideas/suggestions?

1) if the person who gave the gift recognized it on their tax return as a gift you don’t owe tax, and there is a large gift lifetime gift limit (over 5m 2) property tax has nothing to do with income tax, which is what the gift has effect on.

Make sure and carry adequate insurance with high liability limits no matter what your situation.A final thought.....and I don't have first hand experience in getting sued but knowing others who have (in Florida), it is very unlikely that a judge will force you to liquidate a property, especially one encumbered by a mortgage, to settle a lawsuit.