The current owner bought it for $30K and I know they had to clean up a lot of title work and started doing repairs. 

That’s how I got started—with little to no money out of pocket.

Some places (including my own market) require an out of area owner to use a local property manager.

I went the owner occupied route on my first 3 homes.

A reasonableness standard is applied to negligence claims and I would argue a property owner who owns real estate in the Poconos and knows the property is left vacant due to the owners decision to lease the property as a short term rental should know that the pipes are more inclined to freeze and therefore should install heat tracing lines or other measure to ensure the plumbing lines do not freeze.

I would also INSIST that the seller have independent legal representation before I entered into a contract with an owner occupant.  

Since Texas is a tax deed state, you gain ownership at auction, but the previous owner has 6 months to 2 years to redeem it by paying your bid plus 25% interest (in year one).

Despite the previous owner raising rents last month, she is still falling short by $5,000 each month.

Quote from @Jimmy Rojas: Through loopholes there are many home owners that are illegal immigrants, if they get deported , what will happen to their homes? 

I actually like them because the homeowners' association (HOA) usually covers most of the insurance, and there is very little maintenance required.