Would you be better off selling it for a profit and investing that money into a rental that's ready to go?

I have a situtation where the owner had paid off the house but owns 27K in back taxes and is afraid they are going to take it away from him and wants to sell it. 

I'm a financial planner who works with real estate investors - we have a client who plans to renovate a Clinton Hill (Brooklyn) property that has been in his family for generations into a multifamily rental.

Looking to get started in rental properties.

Note that these folks are super hard on properties though.

Is that per TV or cover the whole house.I have upscale vacation rentals so I'm personally not cheating out by not providing cable channels.I even put this in my ads. " If other properties aren't even providing cable channels, what other corners are they cutting?

But I would like to avoid uncapping the property value.

Does anyone else get daily calls from different people saying they're from Home Buyer's Inc interested in purchasing your property? 

I dont know but for me if I am selling RE the only place I put it is on MLS and my Website. 

I have an investment property in Los Angeles county, my tenant is paying me on time.