Hats off to the team at BP for moderating these forums strictly to prevent spamming, a common issue with other RE forums.

I'd love to do cash for keys and get in that much sooner but I wanted to check and see if there are any local laws that would prevent me from doing so. 

HiIf I buy a foreclosure from the second position for say $200,000, subject to first mortgage of lets say $300,000, and then the first position forecloses - my understanding is it forecloses the original owner, and not me.At this point,  can I pay the lender their $300,000 to prevent foreclosure?

I don't see how you would be able to prevent the tenant from hiring an agent (just as they could hire an attorney or a DPOA to negotiate for them if they were on vacation or in the hospital, or their court appointed guardian could negotiate on their behalf), but you also don't have to pay for it.

What is preventing me from moving forward at the moment is the contractor part.For example. if the advice I receive is that in order to enable a good flip i would need to be very hands on and that contractors are hard to find , I would likely avoid a more aggressive project like a multi shell.I am looking to flip and hold the first property with the hopes of getting an attractive entry point for cash flow.

There are many last minute events that will prevent contracts from going forward.

Perhaps getting a home security system will prevent future "abnormalities"?

Luckily, I've taken lots of photos before we tore the stained & soiled carpet out, so I am doing that today.  

Some of the issues we are running into that are either slowing the deal up or terminating the file completely. 1) Liens/judgements arising during the title search preventing the sale2) One off issues, such as shared driveway issues, shared parcel issues3) Death certificate ordering (slowing down process) 4) Abstract & Survey updating (taking about 3 weeks to complete in our area) 5) Attorney Communication (When our attorneys are not on one side of the deal) These are just some of the issues that we are seeing in our market.

If you choose to work directly with the seller, that is your choice but then you might not be able to get help from a realtor.Some relators might do a CMA for a flat fee or to provide you what you need, but that does not prevent them in any case to show the property to their clients..If you want to do this on your own, that is fine, but then you need to do this on your own.If you are starting in real estate, you might be better of working with a local relator, it might save you money and issues down the road.