The strange part is this: the seller (a bank) will only allow it to be purchased by someone intending to use the home as their primary residence.  

Agreed. 3/1 is a strange set up for most.

That might put me in a very strange position if the boyfriend (the one that pays me rent) were to get word of the activities and come to ask me about it.

So I see some of what he's trying to say, but I didn't think that applied to tax lien properties.I don't plan on getting into with him, but I am researching it because it just sounds strange.  

As a strange aside, as it turns out, my tenant in one of the units installed a Vivint home security system without asking me. 

I find the price differences really strange and wonder why?

It's a strange area to invest in for sure.

Things in my life have happened in strange ways but they were written down first.

In that time:We did a complete re-plumb and moved the laundry room inside the house.We re-wired and upgraded all the panels.We completely gutted both bathrooms and re-did them.We replaced all the windows and doors.We gutted the kitchen and put in new tile, cabinets, granite countertops and appliances.We repaired the roof and converted the outside laundry room into a garden shed.We re-did all the floors with cherry wood, tile and carpet in the guest bedrooms.We re-did the HVAC with a new unit and air handler and moved the air handler out of the master bedroom (not sure why it was there) and into the hall closet to free up closet space in the master.We replaced the deck which was rotted, landscaped and removed a dead tree which definitely would have been considered a hazard.And e took a strange room addition right off the living area and framed it into two rooms, a study and a laundry room.Thanks everyone for reading, and stay tuned for part 4... the finished product.

it seems strange that a wholesaler would go to the effort of finding the property and putting it under contract, and then just giving up on the business.