If that is true I think you're on the right track. 

Does anyone have opinions on him?

If they don't have vehicles your property will have to be near bus lines or Marta. 

I'd rather have a property remain vacant to I can spend time cleaning up and getting it ready and back-online so it could be available for someone else to rent.

You have to know your state landlord-tenant laws; they are on the internet:"In New Jersey, a landlord may need to give a 30-day notice to pay rent before eviction if the tenant has a history of late payments and the landlord accepts them.

If you have extra cash at the end of the month, then do double up payments on the mortgages so the principle is reduced and this will increase your heloc room.

I do a lot of boots on the ground stuff for different clients of mine who might need stuff like leasing, walkthroughs, contractor recommendations, but want to be more hands on with the managing of the property.  

It may or may not show on a credit report, depends on the servicing and you should have the loan serviced.Failure to include the debt on a future loan application is mortgage fraud, wanna go to jail?

Staff often seemed to focus on one requirement at a time, and only moving on to others as each was taken care of, instead of starting them all at the same time.

And what is your price point and are you looking for turn-key properties or something along the lines of a "fixer upper"?