Would you be better off selling and purchasing a less expensive property that would require less carry should it become vacant for some period of time?

In 20 years, those same houses that you own today will be paid off and worth double what they are now. 

First off, congrats on saving $50k and landing a great postgrad job—that’s an impressive start!

Her husband is on lease still, if I give him x days couldn't he just go take all valuables in that time frame it just sucks because I can't separate them from the apartment because apartment is full of stuff, basement is filled and garage is filled, like I said he is having a dumpster dropped off Tuesday,, so I'll have to allow access 

There are indeed many tempting short-term investment opportunities in the market that look very attractive numerically, but their potential risks can easily lead to pitfalls.

Some might not be livable at purchase but 5k still seems cheap unless there is something off with the data. maybe the prices were reduced on unlivable properties due to back taxes being part of the deal for the purchase.

It was a risk but thankfully paid off for me.

Also, did they provide you those terms off the bat or after explaining your project?

Taking these two pieces of info will tell you how long you will take to get an offer, so if you go past that you should lower the price, and then the other action item would be to starting off lower than all the other properties if the condition is better than your condition.

maybe you and your husband can trade off making trips there to build a network in person?