I wonder if they were saying it costs about 10k for the materials to "print" the exterior walls or something, not counting the labor, overhead and machinery involved to build those walls...Not even counting the foundation, roof, utilities, trim, partition walls, doors, paint, etc. 

Valley stuff is flying off the market lately so I'm betting you'll be good to go!

Not bad for all involved..

Most owners don't want to be involved for this reason.  

IMHO its not too difficult to source a realtor and put it under PM on your own.Otherwise you can source in san bernadino and riverside counties and bet on the appreciation play locallyPrices in OOS markets are the same as they were in 2006 so be careful...

Active involvement or passive?

So he is very involved and is responsive to the phone calls or emails. 

I going to guess there was a trust involved.

Even if you are able to cash out on it, you really won't be making any money, especially when you factor in vacancy and repairs.If you are set on this being an investment property and you are sure it is worth $210k, your best bet would be to unload it, take the cash and move on to something else that would be a better rental.

It sounds like my best bet is to talk with the current owner and try to get him to sort things out prior to the closing.