You’re going to be personally sued no matter the cause of the loss.

I'm also starting off my own personal investment property journey with my husband. 

And what if the one person you didn't check has a criminal background, has collections, and more?

Quote from @Adam Macias: Wholesaling as it is today will be a thing of the past.It’ll truly be strange to even hear people and gurus trying to make big money off it.The more people try wholesaling but then end up not having an end buyer or cancelling contracts or trying weird things like novations, the more all of real estate will be regulated and cause requirements like licensing to be able to transact more than just your personal resident purchase.Which I don't know why hasn't happened sooner.Here's all the states (in red or yellow) requiring a license to wholesale or at least have started the process:Credit: REITipsterI think licensing and regulation is a beautiful thing that should happen if you plan to be an wholesaler and do more than one deal... which is going to be the case for anyone taking this business seriously.Or even it being regulated to need a real estate agent to do more than one deal outside of buying a personal residence.I've had plenty of failed attempts with agents in pursuit of wholesale deals and I know exactly why, it's not because the agent couldn't find me deals, it's just not practical to think there's opportunity for the numbers a wholesaler needs to make a profit on top of everyone else needing to these days.Because the only sellers who truly can sell at a deep enough discount are usually those who ran out of time and just didn't do something sooner with their situation.I know many coaches and gurus will disagree with me but there’s no regulations on youtube gurus and what they teach either.If we look at the current state of the market in hot cities, the availability of online resources to the average homeowner, how many deals can you possibly believe are available at 70% of ARV?

If you do decide to do mailer(s), then I would advise you to personalize the card and do a handwritten note. 

If they've genuinely abandoned, you'll notice their clothing, personal hygiene, and things of value are all gone.

Try being an agent, your phone number is EVERYWHERE and you get targeted by a whole industry that wants to sell you the latest gimmick.Here is what helped me.I answer calls and when it's a telemarketer I will interrupt them and say very friendly (because I don't hate the poor person who gets paid to do this and coached to be ruthless): Hey, so glad you called, can you do me a big favor? 

I personally don't like getting a lot of automated messages when I rent a STR, I'd rather have some more personal contact.....

If you don't look at them before buying in person, you will get burned at some point and regret it.   

So, things change a bit.If it is his personal home, there are more restrictions.For an investment property, if you take over his financing, read through the deed of trust (mortgage) and see how they handle transfer of ownership.