However, the owner prefers going straight thru our lawyers.

I live in Maine, word prefer something online.

From here is where there are several choices:Stay put in the primary residence, a single family home, and purchase another property (SFR) to rent This is, slightly, my option of choice I will have a place to live free and clear, and wiggle room & safety in case anything should go wrong.Rent the primary residence, and finance another primary residence Sell the primary residence and split the equity for down payments on both a rental and primary residenceMy least favorite optionIt incurs the most debt and risk. 

One alternative may be for your father to take a loan from his retirement account.In order to be able to do so you father would need to be separately self-employed (although not necessarily on a full-time basis as I know that he just retired).Regarding taking a 401k loan: If your father is self-employed with no full-time employees & he could set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and take a 401k loan from the Solo 401k.He can borrow up to 50% of the balance not to exceed $50,000.The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence). 

It seems you might - deep down inside - be a little upset about this, but understand that for whatever reason they prefer you not attend.

I want to do this locally as I have been a long distance landlord when I moved to Florida and prefer to be more hands on.

@Tanisha Haughton This is the only way I prefer to buy. 

Your path forward is dependent on what you value most, there is no single correct path.This might not be popular opinion but I prefer to pay only a little more than the minimums on debts and then save/invest as much as possible into a variety of things, rather than paying down debts and having nothing left. 

I prefer to know the condition of the property and major systems so I can do my own estimate as an investor.

hey everyone, im Shai.i saved $45000 that im planning on investing them in real estate.im new to this world so id appreciate if anyone here could help me with telling me what is the preferred way of investing (flip, rent etc.) and why.also, i live in the states on a j1 visa, and i was wondering where i can check if there are loans avaliable for me .thank you!