You do not want your Godfathers old tenants telling you everyday how he ran the business.You could raise his rent slowly over time to inflict as much prolonged pain as possible on him, if that is your nature, or send notice he is going to full market and that the electric needs to be in his name.

One prolonged vacancy can blow through your cash flow for years.

From what my realtor said it still needs to be signed by the owner so that could prolong the waiting even more..

Exactly, Tom.And make no mistake the current tinkering the government is doing with loan modifications is not going to solve this problem, just prolong it.

I believe it's been driven by years of ridiculously low interest rates, a huge and prolonged commodities boom/bubble along with foreign investor speculators.  

Failure to disclose has subjected many sellers to prolonged and costly litigation.3.

I feel that most new real estate investors fail to adequately understand the real risks of something going seriously wrong: 1) prolonged vacancy, 2) disaster tenant, 3) above average repairs (perhaps massive structural upgrades required).Some investors like the idea of earning a few hundred dollars in 'passive income' from real estate investments, but they aren't really passive if you have to spend all day managing them.

I find that most of the flip remodels consist of kitchen, bath, flooring, and paint, while the big ticket items that actually improve the quality of the home and prolong the life of the property are ignored such as roof, structural, mechanicals, and hidden items in crawl spaces and attics (water penetrations, mold, termite, etc).

The biggest problem is that I they just keep prolonging this and not only are my finances taking a hit but also my personal and professional career.  

Don't be like me and prolong it any longer than you have to.