However, before thus you really need to understand what a property is worth to you, what you're willing pay, what it will cost to step into the shoes of the seller and how to put it under contract, including any legal language required in your state.

Overwhelmed brother is acting as decision maker,  (MIA gambling-addict) son would be sole heir if borrower dies intestate.The owners of the note have had contact with borrower's brother.

He's and old school, shoe box record keeper.

@Leah BonnerPut yourself in the seller's shoes.

Unfortunately this doesn't work out with primary residences***If you want to avoid it in your DTI for future deals and your wife can qualify for the refi on her own it may be worth having her do the refi solely in her name.

I currently own a condo in Bothell that was our first home that we were able to keep and convert into a rental property and have had no vacancies since we converted it a few years back.I currently work at a company that works with most of the tech giants you've heard of, and it pays well, but I would like to eventually have freedom from an employer and be able to run a business for myself and not have to rely solely on that income, so that I can have the opportunity to serve other families, like mine, to help them get on their own path to financial freedom as I have.If any of this sounds like it resonates, would love to hear from you!

Putting yourself in the other person's shoes is so simple but yet not alot of people get it.Great lesson!

Sick of it all, retirement, illness, bankruptcy, foreclosure, death of spouse who did all the work, death of sole owner and the descendants want to sell fast, tax foreclosure, out-of-state ownership, property manager who is stealing, property manager who just quit, notice of major repairs required...the list goes on and on. 

One is a fourplex and the other is a duplex with a single family home on the same lot.What are my options and what would you do if you were in my shoes?

It's called a 1031 exchange which refers to Section 1031 of the IRC which states: “No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, if such property is exchanged solely for property of like-kind which is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment.”To be clear, there is a process and time limits on when benchmarks need to be accomplished to qualify.