I would then manage the property to make sure that the properties retain their value and are not, to be blunt,  destroyed by the poor care of students. 

The settlement seems to be local to the one property, i went and walked around the property since its vacant and talked to one of the neighbors and he mentioned that it happened right after they had an insane amount of raining and the retaining pond behind the property rose to nearly within a foot of the house foundation before it carved a path in the ground around the property due to the road being of lower elevation vs the house.

My main concern is having the cash to payoff everything; no partial payments so retaining as much cash as possible. 

If you can really achieve that totally passively  in real estate and retain your tax benefits in a 1031 exchange it's worth pursuing.

This keeps my insurance premium low.This does of course require you to be disciplined with retaining strong cash reserves.

Hey guys, I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to fund a new construction project with no capital and retain majority ownership?

Hopefully they don't go that route, but I would speak to an attorney in case and put one on retainer for the future.

And if a lawyer you retain tells you that your wholesale deal is legal, nothing anyone writes in this forum will matter more than that.

I have been looking into this for awhile and almost bought my first vacation rental in March but found out the retaining walls need to be replaced.Stories like yours encourage me to keep looking.

You see, I have an ability to retain what I learn well, and when it comes to numbers and money I digest new concepts well.