I am a fellow house hacker and think it's the best way to get into the game if your circumstances allow it!

If you are in this business long enough you will undoubtedly arrive at situations where taking the small loss even if not fair or warranted based on the circumstances is best if it keeps everything moving and avoids more costly delays, liability and inconveniences.In this case, if you withhold the $2K, you still have to find someone to complete the work to your satisfaction.

Since they keep the loans in-house instead of selling them on the secondary market, they can tailor loan terms to meet your unique circumstances as an overseas borrower.If you have strong assets or savings, consider looking into asset-based loans or no-doc loans.

This is too important and also sort of a personal question depending on your state and specific circumstance and I suspect not a one size fits all answer would suffice. 

I imagine there are more neglected homes like this with some potential in your area.

I bought on in about 85 in Northern CA .. and circumstances were a lot like this..

If the reason they ran out of money was due to an unforeseen circumstance and they have a path to recovering, it may make sense to send them more money.  

I would assume these can get the ball rolling very quickly due to the circumstances.

While the circumstances may seem entertaining, the reality is this is not a laughing matter.

If positive, it's generally treated like income or offsets the liability for that property to $0; this is highly dependent on the circumstances.