The second thought was buying franchise in a small business such as an industrial supply company that he is already familiar with.

It's very hard to get anything built, which limits the supply, especially for new economy multi family units - Class C. 

I suspect when the quarantine ends and the held-back housing supply hits the market we'll see a dip in prices in the 2 to 4 months after that time... though there are a lot of factors that come into play that will dictate the actual outcome. (...consumer confidence, interest rates, local job growth, net population growth/loss, government restrictions, savings depletion, stock market growth, etc).

Supply here is incredibly low but if our current situation continues for too long I'm sure that will start to change.

Weeks later water was turned and I was told they need to install a new water supply.

Increase of money supply can lead to inflation. 

Contractors aren't working right now and personally I'm trying to limit my trips to Home Depot and public stores/places for supplies, so it's slow going. 

For instance, my banker here in VA takes a global view of the conventional and commercial indicators. i.e. tax returns, DTI, DSCR of 1.2 or more, credit score, LTV, etc.

As a result, you and every other REI that is limited to those same strategies arrive at the same place...fighting over the limited supply. 

I foresee a huge surge in supply of single family properties in the months after things open up again.