The seller and their agent hopefully did a good job communicating with that tenant to set expectations.

How much do you expect to invest?  

The biggest determining factors for STRs in the area are purchase or build price (and associated mortgage) vs rental expectations, that will help you determine net cash flow.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Stay positive and expect problems.

Well I think he was planning to pay it but it wasn't long overdue so he certainly wasn't expecting a lien to be placed on the house one day prior to sale.

I have looked into Indianapolis as a possible out of state market given the strong market conditions and growth that the city is expected to see over the next 20-30 years.

@Byoung Bae would NOT recommend an inexperienced investor try to DIY manage OOS anything other than a Class A rental.The odds are against you and you will statistically lose a LOT of money.Read below for some friendly advice:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Personally, I would not keep a rental that is not expected to cash flow. 

If you're already stretched thin and expecting to hit 15-20 properties by year-end, hiring by summer makes sense, specially if revenue can support it.