I know the market well and am buying at $450 per square foot where the typical sale is in the $680 to $850 per square foot range. 

I’m not really focused on appreciation but it would be nice to have both cash flow and appreciation.I spent part of my child hood around the Humboldt park area and I came back 20 years later and went to the same area while I was on vacation in 2017.

Property Management reserves the right to reject any application due to any one or a combination ofthe following:• False, incomplete or insufficient application information;• Credit score 550 or less,• Credit showing delinquent accounts with collection balances due; foreclosures, bankruptcies, liens againstthe applicant for taxes or child support, judgments against the applicant for evictions or property damage;• Rental histories showing excessive late payment, NSF checks, property damage, lease violations;• Income shortages less than the required monthly amount;• Criminal histories showing felonies, misdemeanors, DWIs, DUIs, theft by check, domestic violenceHaving something like this will help you eliminate "gut feeling" criteria and ensure you are treating all to the same standards of qualification. 

It sounds like the mom is trying to pawn of their child on to someone else.

We are seeing stress in the PDX lux market IE over built a tad for high end new apartments and in our market you cannot make anything pencil if its not high end lux .. given that 300 to 400 bucks a foot to build nothing else works.  

I want to get a foot in real estate by doing a subject to deal.

The agent is probably advising you of competition so you can put your best foot forward.

I have a wife and child, so it's important to live in a safe place.

It's an entity that you would only need to form and apply for once, and from that point each addition "child series" would be created via private documents that you could type up from your computer at home. 

If I want to cut a sheet of plywood into foot wide strips, the table saw is better.