You should ask them for their spare keys too, makes it easier to take possession if they become yours.

Having 2 years time frame you can work on the house in your spare time and still get it done (depending on upgrades).

I buy bigger houses and rent out spare rooms in my live in rehab houses to nice working professionals and share a kitchen and laundry and live on the cheap or even get paid to live in my own house.

If I move forward with a duplex that has two rooms in each unit, the Air bnb room would be the spare room in the unit that I am living in and the two tenants I have lined up would live in the other unit.

What are some good knowledgeable books to read on my spare time?

Always amazed at the number of investors willing to put $100k in an investment, but can't spare the $300 plane ticket and a Saturday.There's a lot of great markets out west, but it has been less an area of focus for me primarily due to distance.

So I for a better word stalked his house driving by every day, and this weekend he was home, I mustered up the courage and knocked.. no answer... then I had a spare sheet of paper in my car, wrote a message expressing my interest in his property, left all my contact info. 2 days no call.. started to get discourage , then this morning I received an email from him!!!

Take advantage of it and spare yourself any more time/energy on resolving this. 

My favorite strategy is the live in rehab where you buy a too-big fixer upper near your workplace and rent out spare bedrooms to working professionals so you get paid to live in your own house.

Along side him were his sister and mom, helping him paint and fix them up in  their spare time.