The market is at decent price right now(compare to other major US), but getting higher every year. 

I'm looking for advice on how to best approach this seller and also not make a major mistake for my family. 

Majority buy for life time.

@Sunil KapoorThe major component to discuss: how passive or active do you want to be!

The main reason is rent growth has exploded in the three major urban cores Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco since 2010; averaging 6.25% YoY according to RealPage. 

Majority of sfh renters are expecting the convenience of having them.

Its a 3 bed, 2 bath 2 story home in a major SEC college town that he currently rents for $1100 a month!

With this type of investment, you're usually buying a property that does not require major rehab upfront BUT has had maintenance deferred for a significant period of time already which is likely to come back to haunt you before you've managed to accumulate significant profits.  

Housing affordability is a major issue and it's going to need to be an all of the above solution with manufactured homes definitely playing a major role.

After reading some of the responses, seems the majority go by the street name or a reminder name.