We know that we can get into the legality of backing out at the closing table, but before that, we’d really like to ease his mind (the advice he’s getting we don’t think is from a qualified professional) and to make sure that my understanding of the sales tax is correct so:-He bought in 2001 for 185k-Refinanced in ‘06-Took a HELOC out a few years ago for rehabs, but stopped paying it (as well as his mortgage) when he fell on some hard times and had some major medical bills.

@Chari Nash-Cannaday touched on a great point with traveling nurses/ medical staff.  

A close friend of mine was in the same shoes as you.Before giving the middle finger to his corporate job he paid off all his credit cards, bought pre-paid gift cards for food, restaurants, movies, and other leisure items, he got his medical and dental checkups done while he was still on insurance, and reduced recurring expenses in order to live as lean as possible in start-up mode. 

they are 5 yr Leases and this is a medical building with two seperate professions on the lease..

For the price point in which you are bringing to the table, I would search the outskirt towns of Tampa (booming sister-city to Miami/Ft Lauderdale), Jacksonville (currently going through massive overhaul), Tallahassee (state capital with a large state college, great for college focused rentals), Gainesville (University of Florida, large medical employer, and lots of natural geographic attractions such as springs), and I would swap Lakeland for Ocala (Lakeland is notorious for sinkholes which insurance will not cover, and Ocala is currently a big focus for development and tech moving in such as Amazon). 

My plan was to buy a property in this area and try to rent out the other bedroom(s) to friends or medical/graduate students in the area.

One thing everyone on here is neglecting to mention, if it happens again you will be responsible for any and all repairs to any vehicles, or God for bid someones medical bills.

Tesla, Apple, Facebook, UT Medical Research Center, Oracle, Amazon, Google, Samsung, Micron, and 1000 more. 

Not having a known ARV would be a risk.With COVID everything is slower and more expensive.

Medical collections are not of concern its not paying the essentials that are.