Short-term anything can happen but using historical average appreciation for both RE and rent appreciation in a few years this barely cash flowing property will have appreciated significantly and had associated rent appreciation and now be cash flowing nicely and produced a nice ROI mostly due to the appreciation.  

I know every investor is faced with this question. 

I'm tired of barely scraping by and I've decided to give the BRRR thing a go.

Ask GMB or the developer to show you their balance sheet and look at their face.

Most realtors and brokers barely receive a fraction of what was mentioned after a transaction.

Older buildings sometimes face tougher underwriting than newer ones and can only get certain covearge unless certain updates are made.

Sorry you are facing this!

I already let him know that he needs to borrow money to pay the rent or be faced with an eviction.

The risk is the same faced by any deal, and that is the lender coming after the asset in the event of default.

I highly advocate a visit and face to face with whatever team you are working with before at least the first property with them closes.