Help with a sticky situation

[Shima B.]

Hi all, this is my 1st post! I have been trolling the forums, reading blogs and listening to podcasts and now it's time to jump in! So here's what I've got (as a newbie, I need some solid guidance): 1. Have a distressed owner who is trying to get rid of their house 2. Husband/owner is currently deployed 3. House has been vacant for 3years 4. Owner has not made any payments on the house for those 3 years 5. Asked bank to take back the house, but they refused because of Patriot Act? 6. Owners not interested in being landlords 7. Owners have no idea the condition of the house 8. I live 4hrs away from the property 9. Purchased 6yrs ago for $122000?Comps(based on Zillow solds in the past 3 months), $100-$110000. 10. Rents for around $1000 Where do I even begin with this? I thought this may be a good wholesaling candidate, but there is so much I don't know about this property. All the info I have gotten is second hand from the wife/non-owner. So my questions are: a.) what questions do I need to be asking of the owners b.) how do I go about getting solid info on the property, re: liens etc ( I do know about the authorization of release from the bank/mortgage holder). Checked the county assessor's website and verified owner. That's all though. c.) I say wholesaling, but to be frank, this was not my preferred method of entering into Real Estate. If anyone has any other creative solutions/ideas as to how I can use this as my 1st real estate deal, I am all ears. Lastly, I want to point out that my beginning real estate goal is/was at least a year out. Meaning, I was not looking to do ANY deals for a while. I'm in the saving & building stellar credit stage. So, making money now would be nice, but helping this family and gaining some real life knowledge is equally valuable right now. Thanks for reading!