As mentioned by Charles & Bryan, cashflow is the key for buy-and-holds ... one can never predict the bottom but it it's spinning $$ off every month then you'll be able to weather (and enjoy) the next few turbulent years before housing settles and hopefully appreciates.

I do see quite a spin in your prsentation as he is still on the note and walks away from his collateral and management leaving him in a very bad position.

I have read some books and surfed online about money and investing etc but it all makes my head spin as it has gotten so much more sophisticated and uncertain.

I can believe your head is spinning with all there is to do in REI.

We have been spinning our wheels trying to get a LOC or something to help us push these schedules. 

I'm fairly sure he would spin his wheels and never get it done, and continue to run his property into the ground.

To add another spin, if I no longer wished to stay in the area and decided to move to another city in a year or so, how would this affect me in the long term should I proceed with one of the options above?

Brian, this may be very different in Texas, but in MA pursuing foreclosures just had me spinning my wheels.

I guess after doing research until my head spins it comes down to buying a condo and paying it off quick, or buying a house with a suite and paying it off over a longer period of time, with the help of a renter.

There are a lot of Kansas City folks here on BP, but I think I can only come up with 20 or 30 names and out of that about 5 to 10 that are really active in the market and investing, at the local REIA there is on average 130 to 150 people at a meeting, with on average 20 or 30 very active investors - PLUS local contacts to build your team.Plus the local REIA also offers discounts on a lot of national vendors to save you money.When I started out, we went around and around, but seemed to be spinning our wheels, we joined the local REIA group and started getting somewhere.