What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Risks: rates go down and you have to pay a prepay of 2 or 3 %; you have to sell and pay the prepay; rents decline & you can't make the payment like any other type of loan; cost upfront a little more than conventional; need to find experienced broker licensed in the state where subject property sits; servicers are bulldogs. 

This is the heart of the reason housing isn't mroe affordable, that landlords bear these types of costs every day.You could probably find cheaper labor, especially to haul away the junk, but not easily as an out of state investor. 

Thats a great way to profit of $177K in a year but she did know the contractors and the has an eye for those type of quick turn arounds.You will see multifamily 2-4 units a ton of duplex 2 units for under $250K again these are usually not turnkey fully renovated properties but they will pass an appraisal without being subject to any major repairs.

Any type of business income will supercharge your investing.I was lucky that I started in Milwaukee in 2008, but I was always trying to sail downwind", so whatever the market provided.

And the fact that your post had at least three votes for it when I posted this shows that there are lots of other people who would probably be losing in PA under those same assumptions that just happen to be FALSE in Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania has some rather complicated rules when it comes to tax sales; the particular type of sale that the OP purchased at is one that does not divest any liens; it simply changes the party that is the owner, with the new owner taking title subject to all liens and encumbrances of record.With tax sales, the buyer must be aware of all the local rules under which the tax sale is being conducted, because the rules vary all over the place.Now, what the OP seems to have failed to do in his research was to cross index the recordings at the county recorder; the "missed" mortgage would have showed up on a search by parcel number if that sort of cross check was done (and assuming all indexed documents at the recorder are properly indexed of course - I have seen mistakes made attaching a document to the wrong parcel).

Right now there's huge concentration, but as this continues to build out and we see north of the high 30s GW by 10 years from now it'll be almost a requirement to keep some type of locality based risk assessment and to diversify. 

Does the EU have similar types of benefits? 

Personally I'm against these types of programs, especially 5-figure ones.

If it is, why can't you buy similar properties that you are renting with the money you make.If you get $200,000 annually(split proceeds with the other owner), you should be able to buy almost any type of property.