Part of my confusion lies in the terminology in this field.

Credit Unions are far less likely to lie and manipulate than other lenders.If the CU can't lend to your parents, they may have some pointers.Also look at www.HowToPayAMortgage.com   Best website on buying a home with a mortgage I've seen in decades.Good luck!

The tenant can lie about a maintenance issue and order a emergency inspection which waste time and money.

I will not lie to you, it is VERY hard investing from across the pond.

I have heard the most effective reference questions are open-ended, however, I feel like one of the two past landlords is either lying to me or trying to accomplish a personal vendetta (either offloading a bad tenant early for the current landlord or possibly the previous is trying to tarnish this renters reputation due to a personal conflict)What are the most effective previous landlord questions?  

He was an older guy and the internet technology had changed since his heyday.Any suggestions?

However, like Chris also mentioned, your loan payments may even remain unchanged  if your are considerably lowering the interst rates on your current loan (Like with the 12-15% rates you will usually see from a hard money lender or prime rate mortgage.) if you are doing this for yourself on your personal property however, then the benefits lie in that you can get back all of your down payment on your home, releasing cash for renovations, paying off debt, etc. 

Sounds to me like he is lying and definitely a wholesaler.

Are you going to start the relationship off by lying to them?

I don't see it stopping but then with those prices rents have not jumped accordingly.There in lies the problem.