In brief discussion with friend he mentioned the tenants offering a $300K down payment, he did not mention if they talked sale price.  

This will make the future sale and all income easier to track and also reduce my liability exposure.

Short-sale, on the MLS, let the agent double-end the deal.

Purchase price: $160,000 Cash invested: $21,400 Sale price: $253,000

Although I have some income from direct marketing and book sales, for many years 95% or more has come from real estate but different aspects of it like rentals, flips, holding paper and managing/contracting.

If they are for sale, your agent submits an offer like any other. 

This is simply a standard sale on a time crunch depending on teh foreclosure status.

Using the conservative low sale price of $500K this would net me about $170K to use as a down payment on something much larger in a more up and coming area.

Every real estate agent I know (all over the country) is down on sales, things are selling much slower, and just not as much action as has been for the last few years.

We had been "househacking" or renting our old condos before that. 12 months ago, we paid cash for our current rental (because we couldn't get a loan as a result of a recent short sale).