hi jon. all of this seems to be good advice. started with less than that $10k you are talking. my wife was not completely onboard either, but not against it either. since i have had some success, she is more on board than ever. she has mostly decorating input but has recently put input into the purchases of real estate also. she will get more on board as you succeed. i found my first house by going on hud.gov. i found a small house that started out at $8500. i went to look at it, thought i would probably get out bid anyway. i noticed the house next door was boarded up and hadn't been lived in for years. i enquired about it at the local tax office and found out that they owned it thru tax repossession. long story short, i bought it from them for $1700. no, i did not leave out a zero, it was $1700. 

“A lot of firms have been sitting on their hands and not putting money to work, and that’s dangerous,” said Christian Dalzell, managing partner at real-estate investment firm Dalzell Capital Partners LLC and a former managing director at Starwood Capital Group.MORE FROM WSJHow the National Enquirer Got Bezos’ Texts: It Paid $200,000 to His Lover’s BrotherHow Sears Lost the American ShopperAt USC, Admissions Cheating Scandal Runs DeeperWho’s Running in the 2020 Election?

So now you have enquiring minds like we have on BP who say hey wait a minute..

I called the listed realtor company myself who was also the PM company and enquired and was told that they had not received an offer.

Another idea I read recently in a blog post was to call the management company posing as a prospective tenant enquiring about one of their available properties to see how their customer service is.

Cincinnati Refined Cincinnati Business Journal- worth subscription fees Cincinnati enquirer 

They had a duty of care to enquire about the property's ownership and if they had enquired with G they would have been told who owned the property and where I was. 

If that still doesn't work you, at least have a paper trail to enquire if you might have grounds for a holdover further down the track.Another option for those who aren't paying is to include a list of local charities or numbers of outreach services when sending delinquency notices.

I've chosen one property that looks good and is cheap.I've enquired at the agency listing it and I've been told I need a buyres agent , I didn't have any, I was given a phone number to one, I called him and when I asked him who pays him for his services , he said the bank that is selling it.1.Will this make sure that I get a good deal or will he make sure that the bank selling it and paying him a commission will get a good deal?

Anything more to add to that funnel would help me to call them up and enquire.