Or just stay friendly with him and keep checking in every few months, then (not to be morbid) wait until he becomes unable/unwilling to deal with the business any longer and hope he or his family come down to earth and are more willing to negotiate. 

I thought about taking cash but was unwilling to give the government 850K.

No point going halfway through the process only to discover that this particular lender is unwilling to finance because of this.

The bank is, of course, unwilling to provide any information about the person occupying one unit (the other is vacant.) 

I can't find legislation on that.Now: I wanted to hire someone, but it's not easy to find someone willing to travel every time it snows, only to do 10 minutes of shoveling.My tenants are elderly and unwilling to do it, besides I heard exchanging tenant's service for cheaper rent is a disaster waiting to happen.What are my options? 

@Nick Rutkowski Unfortunately no, that is one of the things we asked for & the seller is unwilling to do any work on anything & we don't really have enough time to schedule any more tests.

Both can result in a flexible and secure investment with minimal market risk.Tax Sale Defined further...A transfer of real property in exchange for money to satisfy charges imposed thereupon by the government that have remained unpaid after the legal period for their payment has expired.Tax sales are authorized by state statutes to collect taxes that are long overdue to the state government from negligent or unwilling individuals.RequirementsAny sale of real property for delinquent taxes must be conducted in compliance with legally imposed requirements, or it is not valid.

What if you don't have time to manage it anymore or become unable/unwilling to do so?  

Sellers today are very unwilling to sell you their house cheap.Today I feel Brian's strategy of looking for low equity houses and do his wholesaling of a lease option.

Personally I would just get my EMD back and hopefully negotiate a little more for my other expenses but if the seller was unwilling I would just move on.