I have found that certain soil gasses (in homes with crawlspace), wet insulation, and certain molds all smell like cat urine.

See abovescenario Upon sale of property, both members will pay evenly for all costs incurred fromselling property (staging, closing, commission and other fees)Earnings Distributions Both partners will own 50% of all property equity Both partners will earn 50% of all rental income, to be paid in monthly (or quarterly)payouts Upon sale of property, both members will receive 50% of the earnings from the sale,less any equity share forfeited due to lack of payment to cover fundsRoles/Responsibilities The Managing Partner will bear all of the operational responsibilities, while the 2ndPartner will only have a financial role.

We have a lot of expansive clay in the soil here which causes foundation issues.  

I’m not a lawyer… so bear that in mind on what follows:Your friend could definitely include you in her will specifying that she wants the house given to you (or possibly sold to you for a certain price.)  

I had 2nd rep contact me after numerous emails to first rep go unanswered. 2nd rep tried to spin how beneficial additional 25k was for my personal credit...bear in mind I had a mid fico of 800 with very low credit utilization...I never gave them permission to apply for personal credit cards on my behalf.The suggestions they made to remove inquiries were ineffective and it has been 3 months and they have not applied for 2nd batch yet because of inquiries not being removed.Tread carefully as I am sure my experience isn't unique.

However they are telling me because there was a dry cleaner business at the mixed use building in the past there could be soil contamination. 

Every area has their issues with soil, floods, earthquakes, etc., and the government (the taxpayers) can't insure every parcel of dirt in America is buildable forever.

I recognize that your family all lives in close proximity so thought they had maybe split the parcels before (bearing in mind some deeds have a limit on number of times you can split) - if an option, definitely worth looking into. 

The plans would have to be submitted and approved locally, have engineers, soil tests, water tests and much more...unless you are building with a larger builder. 

Problem as a renter is: as rates and inflation go up you will have to bear the brunt of those increases in your housing cost, whereas as a owner your hedged against the increase.