Having the right team will help you avoid major pitfalls that you may have fallen into.

@John Napier, vacancy is a part of this business that you can not avoid.

For example being limited to a list of 3 properties may bias me towards taking a bad deal that i should avoid.

It could be done before the refi is complete, but I'm not a fan of mortgage fraud when I can avoid it :-).As for you last question, how can I find these types of lenders.  

I know that the property must be listed on the open market and I want to avoid any ethical issues associated - any thoughts on the best way to handle purchasing this property at a lower price?

They are all just unnecessary drains on profit. 

Being in Ontario CA and not in the USA, there are alot of differences.In the USA, for the IRS (tax office) to consider a lease w option not a disguised installment sale:STRATEGIES TO AVOID RECHARACTERIZATION OF A SALE IN THE USA:Where the parties want to avoid having the lease/option recharacterized as a sale, the overall planning strategy is to avoid or minimize indicators of a deemed sale as follows:1.

Most issuers that do any volume will quickly blow through $500k, which is the threshold to avoid audited financial statements.  

If you guys paid cash for the property & want to avoid borrowing funds, but need money to pay the contractor & start producing income, then you could possibly do a lease option (aka rent to own) allowing the tenant/ buyer to choose design elements or have input on the design (so that they feel they're getting some kind of customization & added value), this would be of course AFTER collecting an NROC fee, (Non-Refundable Option Consideration - not a down payment but gives them the right to purchase at a future date - usually 3-5 yrs) typically anywhere between 5%- 10% of the market value of the property.

@Tim Jonasson Wow I have always avoided land leases, but I didn't realize the holder had so much to gain at the expiration of the lease!