And...the other partners will likely complain if it's arms length. 

Another thought process is that the seller could have simply refused to vacate but instead is willing to give us a safety deposit and a monthly rent and hence is not thinking of staying without our permissions.

Now, a lot of these guys are retired or been around for awhile and their BIGGEST CONCERN is safety, so you have to convince them of that.

I haven’t had any problems lately with digital signatures except on some arm’s-length affidavits.

I intend to buy my first house for house hacking in 2021 and I am currently building a safety net for that property.

For pine and other woods, a couple dozen trees isn’t worth it to a logger.Exactly Wayne.. small plots of land do not have commercial timber value especially Hardwoods.. to the OP  how big is the parcel that will tell a lot.But generally speaking if its PINE in your area.. you need trees that you cannot put your arms around at breast height.. thats known as DBH and when you look up the tree is slick for the first 40 foot log.. and then you want to have another 40 and a top..

This is not an "Arms Length Transaction" and no banks that I know would lend you the money. 

There is no one-size-fits all rule about best investments.If you know rentals, flipping, or lending, then focus on that area you know best.There are considerations about keeping things at arm's length, choosing investments that are passive vs active in nature, and some tax complexity around the use of leverage that require some guidance from a professional but can still be very profitable.  

The first most important thing to understand is we are living in the Opinion-age, not information, 3/4 if not more of the people yapping on things are not actually involved in the first place, arm-chair-quarterbacks, it's a easy opinion of saying to wait from a person who was not doing anything in the first place. 

@Jason Arms for the info.