You won't find a deal where you live for free, but if you can live in a great neighborhood at a reduced cost of living that is a nearly risk free way to get started in real estate. 

You can also write off expenses such as property management, insurance, repairs, etc.

Ask an attorney for the cost breakdown, factor in holding costs, assume they'll do more damage on the way out and then ask for a bit more for the headache.But again, especially with no experience with evictions and it sounding like a mess, I would be very tempted to just walk if the tenant is not going to cooperate. 

However, before you do so you should ensure that your revenue from rental income covers ALL your property expenses in the townhome, including mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance/repairs, vacancy, property management, etc...

I manage almost 400 apartments in Cook County at this point.

Feel confident turning over management.

Review their management agreement.

@Gary Abrams A cloud based solution would work really well in your scenario of having other family logging in and helping with management. 

- Who will manage it?

It probably would have cost me about $10k more, but I would have still been able to secure the property.