I would be willing to give you $xxx to surrender the property and we will agree not to pursue any further obligations under the note as a deficiency and you can take the $xxx and get back on your feet.”I think the key with her or borrowers like her, as with any potential slack given to folks who live in a constant state of chaos and distress, is set specific dates, times and actions.

I assume they never filed for a deficiency judgment, which they would have had to do by July 2015, under current laws.

EP, as well as local township ordinances that could be in play.If the tank is out of service because it is deficient, many local municipalities will require that first it be pumped, they filled with stone and the lid broken to render it non-functional, then graded over and planted like in grass.In each PA  municipality there is an official called the Sewage Enforcement Officer, SEO, contact the township get the name and phone number of the SEO and call him or her for a direct answer to your situation. 

The home inspector is inspecting and testing thousands of items during the inspection, not all deficiencies are detectable in a short amount of time, no home inspection is completely exhaustive.

Just putting this out there...Thanks again,MS Immanuel is giving you good advice IMO, and i would follow it, ignore the BP calculators, and understand how to do your own analysis from scratch, what all the variables are, how they interact, and why they are important.Another serious deficiency in the BP calculators are that they completely ignore appreciation.

Are they selling because there is a pending catastrophic, structural deficiency?

Deficiency judgments can only be obtained from cash financed notes, not installment or equity funded obligations.

If you have any sort of catastrophic event in the property and you get a notice that the you have x amount of days to correct the deficiency prior to the HAP payment (section 8 payment) being stopped for non compliance, make sure you as the owner/agent are the one that is there to meet the inspector for the inspection, do not rely on the tenant because they will ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN...

One approach that has worked for me (with tenants that have a good history) has been to offer to allow them to catch up deficiencies over a 3-4 month period with slightly higher payments.

Also make certain your profit does not leave them with tax or other deficiency - if your profit is on the back of the homeowner - watch out for the local prosecutor.With all of that said, I got out of Short Sale flips because I could not get title - is there title for these in CA still?