The structural engineer had concerns about my chimney and required me to either install piers or produce evidence that piers had been installed and were under warranty.  

If you are in coal country this makes the possibility a bit higher , sometimes a new shaft will change the ground water flow effecting a well .A friend of mine is in Confluence Pa , his well is 1300 feet deep , and it produces 2 gallons per minute , he has 4 Large pressure tanks to have reserve water .

@John Blackman Sounds like you have a good amount of expertise in partnerships and have a really healthy attitude about how they should function. 

Find a deal (deals) and you bring value.I guarantee nothing...just produce results!

As a landlord, if a student could produce a letter like that, I might accept it if they could also document their other income and expenses.

I would Buy a few Properties or multi familiy and say produce 2k or more monthly cash flow and use all that to finance the basement renovation and increase in monthly mortgage payment

The only way I see that working is if he is offering a promissory note with a personal guarantee and a healthy interest rate with monthly payments plus an equity kicker of 15%.

Debt instruments are not the same as owning and it would take a heck of a lot of paper to produce $120K.

For the sake of you having a healthy marriage ;) it seems like a fair compromise if the numbers make sense.

As a business, it is valued based upon the amount of cash flow it produces and perhaps, to a lesser degree, a little good will arising from its positioning/potential for growth and producing better returns.Anything you can do to increase the cashflow of the business will increase its value.