I hauled 10,000 pounds of stuff left in house and garage to landfill.

Off market opportunities are out there, but as more and more people buy off-the-shelf marketing and data, for instance absentee owner lists and yellow letters and postcards, property owners are being pounded with mail that only seems to serve to desensitize them, leave them numb and unresponsive.Today's successful investors utilize smart marketing strategies to identify off-market opportunities and multiple media (mail, call, knock) to reach and convert prospective sellers. 

I paid approx 32 thousand pounds sterling for the house including full renovation, but itobviously isn't worth that at the moment, I think they were a bunch of cowboys, although in the long term hopefully it will work out.

This is why the wise investors keep pounding it in our heads that the profit is made mostly by the purchase price, what value you can add to the property, and the markets economic moat.  

Some say do option 2: Don't be penny wise and pound foolish and risk $5MM in personal assets for a $400k rental investment

We learned a ton through the process (like it's easy to be penny wise and pound foolish and that I'm not the best drywaller, etc.) and mostly just had fun.  

My wife and I had gone to one of those 3-day hotel banquet room 'boot camps' where they pound you with information for a total of nearly 30 hours, gradually taking away tables and seat, increasing the psychological pressure until you either leave or buy-in. 

Sounds good on paper, but in reality.....Penny wise, pound foolish.

Undesirable neighbor, needs new garage door and front doors already.  

it looks the "deals" are more in undesirable areas.