@Deanna McCormick Who do you have do your background checks?

To give a little background- I own a local Real Estate Group and do some investing as well.

I conduct background checks and credit scores with the National Tenant Network (NTN). 

Just for your background understanding....In a multiple offer situation, I will almost always decline FHA and VA offers.

He lives out of state and knows I live directly behind the property for years and said he will sell me the property.Okay so now that you know the background of this short story, I have been trying to buy this property for years because it is 50X170 and that is considered a big lot in my county.

So if the original purchase price was 79,000 wouldn't there technically be a gain of 421,000 to pay long term capital gains on?

I come from a manufactoring/warehouse, pharmacy technician, truck driving background.

I've heard from a friend that it takes another 2-3 months after taking and passing the state exam because of background checks?

I am a real estate agent with a background in finance and estate planning.

Also something else to consider is that the fire code requirements are more involved for a 3-family (interconnected) than a 2, so if it's not already compliant with the 3 family requirements you'd be expected to bring it up to compliance if trying to turn it into a legal 3 family.The phone # for the building department (technically "Department of Inspections and Standards") is 680-5201 and their website is providenceri.com/DIS - as with most city services, I find that I can usually get some help over the phone (sometimes with some waiting on hold), but they are most helpful in person, if that's something you're able to do.On the specifics of that particular property, one option that often comes up with weird utility setups like you describe, is to just have the owner pay utilities.