Any ideas on how to proceed with security deposit if you have no idea what the condition of apartment was prior to purchase and damage will likely be the result of wear and tear as previous landlords did nothing to maintain apartment tenant has been in for 10 years?

Typical residential vendors need to use the sale proceeds to buy their next home.

.- If so, it's up to you to determine the risk/reward, and should you decide to proceed, making sure to so according by obtaining pet fees and pet rents in order to cover damages and additional wear and tear you will likely incur.

As @Eamonn McElroy pointed out it must be done this way and depreciation cannot simply be distributed differently by the CPA.If I recall @Brian Burke once mentioned that he has done this form of agreement, perhaps he could shed light on the specifics.I have one friend/client (most of my clients end up being friends, if they weren't beforehand 😊) who as the GP gives all of the equity to his investors, and he only takes fees, and proceeds, thereby giving the investors all of the depreciation.

Also, if you can convince a commercial lender of the future value of the property (based on cap rate and proforma), then you may be able to get them to give you larger loan proceeds.   

We should talk about this in greater depth because I think it would make sense to have this property put into a trust, have the trust sell it, then have the trust purchase the next home for your brother with the proceeds.

This process takes months and most times they will not even rezone it (depending what state/city you're in).I wouldn't think about proceeding until the property is zoned properly. 

If you were in my shoes how would you advise me to proceed (obviously I'm not gonna hold anyone accountable for any advice).Thanks ahead for your time.

All probate proceedings must run notices in the newspaper to alert potential creditors to file claims.

It's who my property manager uses, and even though we decided not to proceed with the electric work on our property, we had the best experience with them in getting a bid.http://cooper-electric.net/