We do attempt to notify the owner before we make the decision and give them the opportunity to give input but keeping the property and tenant safe, and following the Tenant Landlord Laws are more important than getting permission. 

Even with a completed sale often times you might need/want to pay a lawyer to do a quiet title action to quell any possibly attempts to reverse the sale by an interested party.

I was going to do that in an attempt to get creative with my financing options so that there are no liens on it and I could borrow against it as an option.

Most other things are worth attempting to resolve yourself after ensuring safety and doing research.

If not, I do not recommend sheriff sales as a first attempt.

The seller had attempted to buy me out of the deal but ultimately realized they had no legal grounds to back out.

His "team" has attempted to buy a couple of my properties in Cleveland, Ohio using a dead LLC. 

Jay what you've got to understand about Josh is the fact he is simply lying.  

My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

One particular point can not be over emphasized; even if someone has and is willing to invest the capital in attempting to build or scale their business or investments, they still May fail if they do not possess or can not evaluate those who CLAIM to possess the necessary expertise required for scaling.