@Christian BorsI doubt Fannie Mae is driving by, but you can bet one of the other bidders is bitter and could be out to get OP. 

I think for students, having a partly furnished placed might be attractive if they are moving away from home for the first time, but I bet the furniture would take a beating.

Your best bet is to go ahead and find 2 or 3 other legitimate design build firms that work on historic housing and get their opinions. 

Perhaps a duplex or triplex at that price might be your best bet.   

and Sticky ^^ I bet you don't miss that.We got through MERS unscathed and we still seem to be growing at about 20 members per month.You really started something great out here!

You best bet is to get legal advice.http://bundlr.com/b/private-lending-bundlethat link is my private lending book marks bundle@Brian Burke@Bryan Hancock

You can bet it's something I'll be looking into more for every other property I consider in the future. 

Turnover is more common anyway and not generally as pricey to endure (though mobile home parks have the bets of both worlds in that there is unlikely to be turnover while you still get the impact if the number of units) and a few vacancies out of many isn't as big of a deal.

@Jon Dixon I agree with @Chad Duval the bank is generally the best bet!

If done right in some jurisdictions, I bet you could get a judge to order him to put rent money into an escrow account for every month you are waiting on the jury trial.