You need to request a certificate from his insurance broker to make sure it's valid.

In other words use a lease with a definite goal in mind of obtaining the property in a long term lease contract. and use the equity to buy into the property.

@Brandon Clymer First off, do you have an elevation certificate for the property?

Luckily, you have found a great community of other real estate professionals, reference resources and more learning material than you probably want at this point.With regards to obtaining a real estate license, the required education to be eligible to sit for the exam can range from $600 - $1k depending on the institution.  

We hope to sell if we can obtain an acceptable return on investment or rent to gain some initial cash-flow.  

some states ban cash rebates but lowering of commissions during a deal is certainly acceptable so is gift certificates etchttp://www.justice.gov/atr/rebates

I have found that obtaining properties the way you did on this last one is fairly easy, but many later lose the property when they have a sudden need for cash.  

You can go to any courthouse and obtain this information free.

Eventually, I am interested in obtaining my RE license in CO.I became involved in real estate through the purchase of the condo, which I completed a full renovation on before moving to Denver to complete school.

I will be continuing into Berkeley to obtain my degree while balancing my RE education and mentorship.