Case in point was my Lawyers advice that my ex and I 'could not each make a settlement payment to each other' Our situation was this;I owed her about 20K to settle paying her back for part of a small inheritance she had received but was used on a joint asset I was fairly flush with cash that was NOT in retirement accounts since we had just sold or marital home that was paid off.I paid her 40K in cash (20K more than I owed her) and in return she transferred to 20K or her retirement account assets.

If the seller has no equity now.. why spend money the only money your spending is to save your credit.. since there is no equity if that is the case and is very much the case in most sub too's ... so many times this ends with the new buyer just ripping rents until the houses is foreclosed.. the SEller could if they want the house they could buy the first out and then foreclose.ONe of the reasons if you do this its best to also do a wrap.. if you do a wrap you have the ability to foreclose it and get your title back.. if no wrap and just a sub too. they are in a world of hurt.

Location would be everything in this case in order to make a full-time living from teaching piano.

That wasn't the case in southern MD.  

You cited a case in Texas.  

It is also very important to make sure you have registration card when you are evicting tenants since judges (especially where I am in Hudson County) demand to see a copy of it prior to even hearing your case in landlord tenant court.Apply early since it takes about a month to get the registration back from the state.

For me,  I never needed to hire an attorney as I preferred to handle all my cases myself, and  never once  lost a case in my 13 years as a landlord and owning 40 rental properties of my own.  

If this is the case in your town I would imagine the attorney would advise you to evict for non payment of rent.

Right now my model is buy cash under 75k (keeps holding costs low), rehab estimates around 20k all in assuming worst case, in markets that handle 130k resale. 

Dude, i do not know if this is also the case in your state but, here in the Philippines, banks are looking for a clear titled COLLATERAL on the application of refinancing.