I also don't invest in the city for multiple reasons (the ED department being one of them, which would probably come into play if you are looking to do something other than buy and resell some land in the OC)I know people who have done very well on Murray Hill and the Gordon square area.

Use the roughly $50k to purchase a single unit outright, or split it up for multiple down payments and purchase a few units?

Shari Lawson Yes, it has - multiple times.

What steps can I take to ensure I'm not wasting my time and there aren't multiple liens on the property?  

I use multiple cards for re-habs and that works well but it would be easier to have a line of credit to keep everything in one place. 

Basically multiple small homes usually provide more total rent than one big home.  2.  

Like multiple shotguns bought by investors and each been refurbed and given a different pastel, individual houses just bought and heavily updated, the tenants are slowly changing the demographics (eg not poor and black, but young and white), and so forth.In fact, the pastel thing is actually infectious.

I've had to deal with most of these issues concerning both my own multiple retirement accounts.Since subtle, nuances can make big differences in interpretation, I've only felt satisfied by getting my pension guys, my two CPA's and my bookkeeper on a conference call to get the straight skinny. 

The reserve price is generally some multiple of the starting bid (and it's never just 2x).  

I used it on multiple properties, flips and rentals and never had a complaint.