I think we need more explanation on this aspect of your approach.I think there's a lot of value in "getting your hands dirty" as a casual investor, because the money you save affords you the ability to absorb some of your mistakes.

If she wants to terminate "to get the EM" to pay her contractor, despite failure to disclose numerous documents (like Seller Disclosure) as legally required or promised in written sales contract, she should not expect my agreement to release EM.

My recommendation is to find a Landlord/Tenant lawyer in the Tidewater Region to review your friend's lease and give him a thorough explanation of the rights and obligations.

If not, I'd appreciate a quick line by line explanation of the process. 

I drove by numerous pipe farms many being sold for 1k a lot....

I would say that the first step before panicking and talking about sale is to request, if not demand, an explanation of the problem and solutions needed to correct it.That value seems really suspicious, especially when added to the fact of the extremely large assessment last year. 

I have numerous SF rental properties in the Houston area.  

It takes hours just to do the basic vetting of a single investment, so it would save incredible amounts of time to have all of that done in advance, and an accurate rating of the risk placed on the investment (A, B, C, D).On the other side of the coin: numerous platforms claim they are simply awesome at doing pre-vetting, but in my opinion, what I see in practice doesn't match up to the words.

Logan Allec, very nice explanation, well done !

,etc. from there you will either get a door slam(im assuming) or a okay, or a explanation a little.