It sounds like you’ve got a great foundation with your business development and marketing background, those skills will definitely help when it comes to evaluating deals, negotiating, and even managing properties.

The salesman makes it sound so tempting, you get some added life insurance while also earning passive guaranteed tax free income! 

Section 8 sounds great on paper but there are a lot of things to consider. 

Example: replacing the bathroom vanity.My question: If I were to take pictures and a video of the thing needing repair and show it to someone at Home Depot or Lowes, would they be able to guide me on what to buy and what to do?

To repair the sewer line is not cost-effective so if you do it, you just do a replacement.

Otherwise we don't get MTR folks as we are way out of town.That sounds like a smart plan!

We're very happy with the cash flow and the dominant position based on replacement value.

Does that sound like I am doing this right or should I just buy the property subject-to with maybe a one year balloon, then just bite the bullet and close on the property and once it's fixed up turn around and sell it again.

Sounds cliche but always best to reach out to a trustworthy loan officer and fill out an application because there are too many things to look at before determining how much you can qualify for. 

You sound like someone could pitch you on almost anything right now and if the number seemed good, you would dump your appreciation cash in the bucket.