I would love to be able to flip houses, or attempt whole sailing (also I'm super open minded to any investment strategy) but to be able to afford investing in a market like Vancouver's is improbable, at least from small amount of knowledge I have so far.

When attempting to qualify for future loans, those lenders are just going to look at what your total monthly loan payment is, not what interest rate you're paying that lender and certainly not the "total lifetime interest". 

I believe my first attempts at a real syndication will be very small deals, with non-accredited investors, so a 506(b) most likely.

It's a bit insulting since a two bedroom apartment in this complex rents for around $2000 per month and a brand new dishwasher is around $310.Anyway, does it seem like a safe idea to attempt this?

We are first time home buyers and do not want to make too costly a mistake and have been attempting to do our due diligence.

I believe the conservative refi appraisals are ~10% lower than an appraisal associated with an offer that was 10% higher them the refi appraisal (i.e. transaction appraisals attempt to justify the agreed upon transaction amount). 

I'm not suggesting you wouldn't buy it because it's family but this essentially comes down to a business decision and you have to attempt to separate the emotions from the numbers.Why are they selling it?

I'm assuming not if it is on a lawyer's website.You can attempt to get a lower payoff although if the servicer is legitimate they will require the homeowner to enter into Loss Mitigation and that process is a hassle.

That number could be every bit as phony as the email itself.I've been hit with multiple attempts, referring to closings in the next few days - which were not scheduled at all.These thieves are clever and sophisticated.  

We were contacted 12 hours later by the owner saying that the cleaner’s attempt to clean and deodorize was unsuccessful, and he is still not satisfied.