This is all new, so I am accumulating information and am beginning to formulate a strategy. 

The houses eventually become vacant/abandoned (esp. in inner cities) and we're back to accumulating blighted neighborhoods.

The hilarious thing is they expect me to refund the deposit so they can pay other bills they have accumulated.

Hi Dorothy,You could get a 2nd job and save it up pretty quickly.You just have to able to have the self-control not to spend it on other things, and just let it accumulate in a Savings Account.Good Luck!

The value to the buyer can add up to a very sizeable amount of money; typically pays the up-front lender fee to lower the interest rate, which results in accumulating paid interest savings for the buyer as long as the buyer owns the property, or for the life of the loan; may add up to many tens of thousands of dollars; make sure you check the fine print of the lender's loan lock provisions; be sure your seller's money is truly paying down the loan rate as opposed to paying other lender charges to the buyer.  3.Seller-Funded Temporary BuydownsBuydowns can also be structured to adjust the buyer-paid interest rate for a limited number of years; can cover the first two, three or four years or more of the buyer's loan; allows your seller to reduce the buyer's ongoing loan cost (monthly payment) considerably.4.Owner FinancingA willing seller may be able to keep their selling price intact by offering financing to a buyer; for a seller who needs to sell as soon as possible for the best possible price; expands the potential market for buyers to those who might not qualify with a lender for any number of reasons relating to their credit, verifiable income, or other issues; seller creates an 'investment" that can produce an annuity with a very good rate of return for many years; seller needs to become very well educated on how to qualify a potential buyer (how to get credit, income, debt ratio, and other accurate personal historical data on the buyer-and how to verify that data); seller needs legal advice to review contract documents, as well as title and escrow services to conduct a title search and closing; buyers attracted to seller financing may have income sources including part- time work, bonus income, royalty income, dividend and interest income from investments, or they may be newly self employed; seller who finances needs to get a substantial down payment and ensure that the property is adequately insured by the buyer and that initial property taxes are pre-paid and a tax payment plan is established; if the buyer stops paying, the seller will have to proceed like a bank or other lender and foreclose on the buyer. 5.Contract for DeedA contract for deed agreement to purchase is similar to a seller-financed purchase.

Ramsey's fortune did he accumulate from real estate investing (???)

This all accumulated in everyone wanting a piece of the action.

Does anybody have any suggestions for contacts in this area who can install additional French drains or provide other options to keep this water from accumulating?

A generational family fortune can be squandered away within 3 generations while somebody growing up in the hood/poverty like @Sterling White can accumulate hundreds of properties and amass a ton of wealth.

Long-term, save some of that money and do one flip for every three rental buys so you can accumulate more down payments in profit.