The lawyer had said they have cracked down on rent to own agreementsite so much that it wouldn't be an option at this point in time.

I'd rather have a large majority of my portfolio in one asset class that I know intimately than a bunch of diversified asset classes that I know very little about.  

However, I also incorporate appreciation potential, price, area/rental traffic, rental history, tenant demographics, logistics, regional history, etc. and it's hard to know all that if you're not intimately familiar with the area.

The option if you can't find another contract in time; then you need to find a real estate attorney to decipher it for you.

Tenant build-out cost.Lastly, you really should be looking a deal over a 3 - 5 year period of time and not only the cap rate which is just a snapshot in time and predicts one year ROI. 

Hey, BP--here's my dilemma:I’d love to continue investing in buy & holds, but most of my money is tied up in a flip last year that didn’t sell in time, so I wound up renting it out and doing a refi to pay off my HML.

They are family and if they loaned it to you it was more on a personal level and believe in time you will reimburse them.Also your success is bigger and more important than the money they gave you.Just my thoughts, hypothetically speaking

I'm sure this will all come in time but I figured with a great resource like this site it wouldn't hurt to ask. 8) So any tips, and suggestions would be more then appreciated.

What is important is price, trustworthyness, and the ability to get projects completed in time & under cost.

Doing anything else other than calling your PM and working it out will cost thousands more in time and money.