Grant,Put it in context of volume...As of this morning there were 376 HUD homes for sale in just Florida.Multiply that by 50 States, and it is an ocean of paperwork to keep up with.Take that number of houses, and consider that we sometimes make 3 or 4 offers on the same property for multiple investors.Having the NAID number allows access to bid.After submission, the contract ir investigated for flaws and accuracy...

You can check with a land use planner who usually can do this sort of investigation as well for a fee but the first two things shouldn't cost more than a few bucks for copies of permits or what the assessor's office has for their records.

A more thorough investigation revealed some structural issues.  

For the first question, it seems as though your calculation should investigate how much cash flow it will cost you to pull out the $21,000 in equity.

I have dealt with troublesome contractors on jobs where I worked as a forensic engineer for 1.5 years, so I get the importance of finding the right one, hence my desire to start all of this learning and figuring things out before I actually need to move down there. 

As a landlord in NJ, do I have the right to enter the premise with a licensed contractor to investigate violations from the township?

In any case, it's important to do your due diligence and investigate thoroughly before making any decisions.

We already own the home so figured it's a good place to start investigating.

That will probably prompt a call from the State to let the PM know an investigation will ensue, at which point they will likely let you go because they don't want the State digging into their files or business.

The sample motivated seller questionnaire (and explanation paragraphs) on this page will equip you to avoid this common newbie mistake.If you're new to wholesaling or creative real estate investing, you can save yourself a whole lot of mental and financial anguish by asking a series of two or three questions to help you decide whether to deal with a property seller or not.The information you gather from a well crafted motivated seller questionnaire can also help you determine whether the property in question is worth investigating further, regardless of what you find about the urgency of the seller's situation.The section below will take you through a shortened sample form and discuss each section in detail.