Your best defense is to RTFC - Read the full contract, the FAR-BAR contract for sale of real estate (whichever one was used), and any agreement with the buyer or seller.

Whatever you do, begin looking for someone to represent you in whichever market you choose.

. - Ask for the cincinnati port authority grant- from whichever lender you use, that grant paid my entire down payment so all I came to the closing table with for a $175k house was $3200 in closing costs - To qualify you must have 700 credit score and not make over $100k.  

@Scott Carrillo I do that in Cleveland: $1K to find, research and buy a property on Sheriff sale, $500 for repeating clients who I'm managing the property.Rehab usually takes 10% or $2K whichever higher.

@Lance Luvaul since you are borrowing from your dad I would suggest you give him either what @Chris Mason suggested or 50% of the profits, whichever is higher.

That requires that whichever CPA you work with have full visibility into all your active and passive sources of income (and losses!). 

You may want to look into tax liens, private lending, etc. in whichever area you intend to purchase RE.

You could form the parent LLC in whichever state you and your wife remain residents of.

The likelihood that you will ever see a dime is super small.The best thing you can do is make sure to file the judgement with the county (or whichever area you need to) for the eviction as well as a judgement for the rent owed.

Purchase price or appraisal whichever is lower... plus you're more likely to see 20-25% then you are 15...