If you are buying at a discount, is there a reason such as the property needing a rehab? 

I very quickly had to reorient him to my reasons for dissatisfaction, to which he offered no remorse.

Along with personal reasons IE living with tenant. 

Have done some preliminary research and will do a deep dive, just wanted to see what folks thought of there were any obvious reasons why or why not or any markets similar that I should be considering.

This triples your headache.BE the voice of REASON to your friend. 

Is anyone else aware of reasonable alternatives?

Forced appreciation allows me to build equity from the beginning of the investment, so if I need to firesale for an unforeseeable reason, I will not be underwater.

It's a dishonest promise.If you are in foreclosure, it sounds like you are either there or headed that way,  what you are encountering is a "foreclosure scheme" they are illegal in most places and for good reason.

There are a bunch of reasons people sell a property.

I've owned student housing as far as 4.1 miles from the University of South Carolina campus.In my experience, the only reason kids would live that far away is cheap rent.