My only dilemma is I am kind of unsure as to how to track down the owner of the property.

Our background has been in health care and so our ultimate goal would be to open turn key long term home care facilities for health care professionals who have been working over 12 hours daily taking care of other people's families while missing out on their own family life.

And, if there are any mold or health issues then I wold get them addressed now. 

Further, there are minimum habitability standards set by your state's Board of Health and maybe even the local code enforcement office.

I made a mistake not keeping up with rents when I had health issues.

I currently work in management in the health care industry and am pursuing my MBA on a part-time basis. 

My family has been here for multiple generations and has always been very involved in the area, including on the real estate front, so I have deep roots in and love for the place, and come by my interest in real estate honestly :-) Professionally, I'm an interior designer specializing in high end residential design for successful, busy professionals, and aging-in-place/universal/accessible design, for those who either need it now or (preferably) want to plan ahead, just in case, knowing that at least 68% of us will be disabled in some way eventually, or who know they have some health issues for which they know they will eventually need to make some modifications to their homes if they want to continue to live there. 

But as Mark said, the devil is in the details...check into the financial health and the covenants of the HOA you may potentially buy into to ensure you understand as much as you can.  

Upshot is that I could then deduct health insurance and other business expenses directly against the income (and can offset deals gone bad against income)Has anyone done this and have thoughts on it?  

At present I have a special interest in developing a business in Assisted Living Facilities for Independent Seniors, I have an extensive clinical background and experience in Internal Medicine and Senior Health care for over 25 years as a Physician Assistant.