To my surprise she said “That sounds fine”.That next morning I called a realtor, listed our house and started looking for properties in Denver, Colorado.Our current residence sold very quickly, and we moved into a single bedroom apartment in an “OK” part of town.

It was one of those things that when it's happening, you're so surprised that you just agree to it... 

The owners at the time did not alert me to the change in occupancy and I had to find out about this change on my own thru random inspections of my own.Going forward, with future deals where the units are occupied, what strategies should I utilize to help ensure that I'm not taken by surprise when tenants up and leave.  

In fact, my I can reduce my overhead/profit number because I'll be comfortable I won't incur surprise costs like having to eat a $2k change order for unknown circumstances or having to pay interest on your $10k material bill because you won't pay me for 45 days.

SAC is also on the hot list for gentrification appreciation http://www.realtor.com/news/trends/10-surprising-cities-that-are-gentrifying-the-fastest/

They'll be surprised in 10 years when they have to bring cash to the table to get out of their losing investment.   

I am surprised you didn't mention quad copiers with 4k cameras. 

I'm surprised every day by how many people are not aware of the Homestyle Loan.  

The property would have to have some kind equity or be so upside down the bank would do a short sale otherwise why would the owner sell.If you have a way of identifying the property I would give it a try but don't be surprised if you have to kiss 100 frogs to find the prince.

I asked him to call me and was surprised to get him on the phone.