Address the issue swiftly, firmly, fairly, and politely.

I'm fairly new to real estate too.

If the house with a one car garage recently sold for $110k, all other things being fairly equal, an appraiser might deduct $10k for the value of the garage and value your property at $100k. 

First I only go see houses that are three or four bedroom and they are in good school districts and the quiet streets that's the first thingNext thing I do is I walk through the rental and act like a renter asking the basic renters questions to landlordsAnd then I do a classic what if statement and give a leave behind on lease to ownMr. landlord you got a nice place here and I think the rent you're asking 1100 is fair"I want to ask you a question and if you hate the idea of them just let me know, but what if I could give you 1100 a month for about oh 24 months and then at the end of that period of time buy the property at a fair price, ""would that be something you would even consider thinking about or maybe not?"

They aren't going to sell it to him for less than fair market value and if he has to buy it at fair market value, why doesn't he just go buy an open market property and save the headache and hastle of a short sale?

That sounds fair, what do you think?

Thanks, @Wayne Brooks, @Oren Karp, Account ClosedThe auction was fairly active so we were surprised that we got it at the bid we did.  

Sounds like a good question to ask an attorney or your fair housing/real estate commission/housing office about. 

I've closed a fair number of transactions with them and I've always been satisfied.

What do you think would be a standard, fair agreement to offer them?