It seem this agency is one arm of Section 8, but I am not an authority on this.  

Does the public administrator have the authority to sell?

in CA its a few documents with the authority.

I have permission from the sellers to talk to the bank and I am waiting for the authorization to appear in Wells Fargo's system.Does anyone have any experience with purchasing properties with reverse mortgages?

The owner, or you with the proper Authorization To Release information about the loan, need to get a pay off figure from the bank.

Maybe we should have a rule on BP, that when questions are asked about someone's materials that they allow others to comment and a waiting period before the author of that material jumps in and swings the conversation.

If they said it's common for the area I'd stick to market rents.You can call your local housing authority and see what they say about it.Look at comparable properties and rents advertised, are theirs lower due to the heaters?

This would be easier for one of you to get an Authorization To Release (form which you can probably find on the internet, or I can send you one) so that one of you can talk to the bank, get the payment history from them, and compare it to whatever checks or whatever you have from the owner.

Authorization to enter the property (as applicable/agreed).

A hard pull is any pull of your reports that you authorize, for the purpose of getting credit.How much additional inquiries hurt your credit depend on how many you already have, among other things.