Does it make sense to buy there?

The cleanest thing is to buy her redemption rights.....that price is whatever makes sense to you, considering whatever equity you have at your auction price, and what someone else might pay, knowing they have to pay you off, plus interest I presume.She simply can’t avoid cap gain taxes on a sale unless she 1031’s, just a fact of life.  

Today it is not.Frankly the fact that you didn’t bother to just google “Short term rental New Orleans” instead of posting makes no sense to me

Like I mentioned above, if a lender is asking for fees up front (especially large ones) without having funded anything, then you should let common sense take over and walk away.

It was a great deal and since I lived so close to the unit it made sense.

@Nicholas Bolcon it's common for there to be a difference between the tax assessor's page and the actual legal use as determined by the building department.

No sense losing your sanity over a relatively small amount of money.

I'm looking at a 4 unit off market deal in East Boston now that might make sense from a condo conversion perspective. 

Does that make more sense?

If something for example costs 2x as much but last 4x as long....... it would make more sense to buy the more expensive item less often...Both these are even more critical when dealing with trades/people.