Our goal is to save up as much as we can in six months and our down payment at that time should be around $14,000-20,000 dollars.

BTW In that same time, I have yet to see anyone disprove this rule.So unless you can in fact disprove it, lets try and give it a rest.Anyway just my 2 cents.

You have some very good questions, and I will try to give you the best perspective I can in this short message.

I read as much as I can in this website whenever I have my free time.I have two cousins living in Oregon as well.  

A big fat ZERO.

In most states if the tenant has a valid lease you must honor it.. of course they have to pay.. so you may have just bought a rental.If they were the home owner that lost the home then you can in most if not all states move for eviction.Most bigger cities have eviction services who will handle this for you for 500 to 700 bucks..

I find that most people include to much contingency or fat in their numbers so they talk them self out of the deal.  

Come out to one of the local BP Meetups if you can in July (@Johnson H. hosts a great one in Milpitas).

Remember the saying- pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.  

NOTE2: "displaced single parents," people providing housing for disabled children, or people providing housing for elderly parents, can in some cases qualify as FTHB according to the mortgage industry.