Currently, he has a mortgage balance of $55,000, and is behind on property taxes in the amount of $16,000.

My goal is to find a balance of the two.  

I'm prepared to invest $50-75k cash to get started, but would be looking to utilize hard money to finance the balance of the deals.  

From the initial assessment of this property the property expenses are out of balance (i.e. no property management figured, maintenance cost is $500/year, fuel costs of over $4000, along with some other similar items) not to mention some deferred maintenance on the property as well.

It's not fun and can cause a little extra work, but ultimately the LLC is the way to go.We now have 5 LLCs to hold different sections of the portfolio each has its own bank accounts, income statement balance sheet.

Can compare balance and arrearage to est market value very quickly.Don't think guru software qualifies as creative, but wanted to welcome you anyway.  

Keep in mind, each mortgage payment that you (and your tenant(s)) make is also paying down the balance of the note so you are getting wealthier in equity and not just off of the cash flow!

Have you asked the owner to finance the balance to you that you can't come up with?  

I've read through the contract and will summarize here with simplified numbers (not the actual numbers) what I believe the contract says and follow up with some questions for you more knowledgeable members:1) Purchase Price: $100k2) Initial Down Payment: $10K3) Buyer pays seller monthly payments based on 30 year amort of 90k at 5% which is $484/month4) Remaining principal balance to be paid off on the defined Closing Date (roughly 2 years from now)5) Buyer pays taxes and insurance6) Buyer to provide Seller a Loan Commitment from a Lender on or before the Closing Date7) Seller will transfer Deed when Buyer pays full Purchase Price8) Buyer will pay the Seller's existing monthly mortgage payment that exists on the property, which is $100/month, directly to the bank.

When I did this a while ago, it seemed to be about 10 years or so.There is also the benefit of having SOME of your assets in ROTHs in retirement years as there is NO mandatory distribution requirements when you hit 70.5, and you can also use those tax free withdrawls to help do 'balancing' to keep from stepping up into the next tax bracket.Dan Dietz