This is especially true in the over $200,000 market which is soft due to all the oil layoffs.Houston also seems to be the "in" place to be for investors from all over the country. 

When my proverbial oil well comes in, I would consider scraping and building. 

He told me he would sell the house and 10 acres for $150k and the lake and 110 acres seperatley for $199k and it's prime hunting, fishing and hiking land.

this actually happened with the obama administration years ago.these are what you are finding, troy. these houses are less than desirable and the bank, well frankly, " has bigger fish to fry". so these houses sit and sit and sit. get run down, and pretty soon, when the bank wakes up and realizes they have thousands of dollars in carrying costs invested in this house, they discover that they will never get anywhere near the amount that they have invested in the house back to them, so they " drop" the house. thats right, they write it off. they stop paying someone to check on it every 2 weeks, they stop paying someone to mow the lawn, etc. and they stop paying the taxes.my advice to you, call and ask the bank if they have " released the lien or mortgage" back to the original owner. some banks will tell you, others will not. then, call the local tax authority. ask how many years ago the last taxes were paid on the house and who paid them. if it was a bank, and they stopped paying the taxes, well, there is your first sign that the bank has dropped the house. they aren't going to keep paying the taxes on a house that they no longer want, are they?

A lot of people like having canals in the backyard for casual fishing and can be a peaceful environment when a patio is set up properly.

Mortgagor complaints: The mortgagor might find some defect in the property after taking possession, such as a leaky roof or rotten siding, an environmental violation such as heating oil residue, or a zoning or building code violation – and stop paying until you fix the problem.

The seller bought the property at a presale 2 years ago for 406k than it shot up and than sunk again with oil prices. 

Lower oil cost should reduce input cost of almost everything.

I have my own thoughts and have run some #'s but I'm just fishing for any advice.

If someone has a boat, ask them if they like fishing?