For your 1st time, pay a Property/Land/Transaction Attorney to review the title commitment with you to make sure that there are only the outstanding liens on the property, and that the owner has title.- Collect Tax Certificate to verify Property Taxes are Paid- Get a current statement from the seller to verify the existing balance, if they are delinquent, you can get the bank on the phone to verify the amount to make the loan current.- Review the loan documents, there is most likely a due on sale clause, which is why you won't find a title company to process these for you.

The owners refused my advice to reduce price and they both sat vacant for months.

And the owner is very responsive to questions or issues (emailed him at night and received a reply within a few hours).  

If you have a partner and are a minority owner or LP in the deal, you may find something, but that doesnt sound to be the case from your description.

It seems they were non-paying tenants even under the previous owner, who likely sold the property because of them.

Buyers don’t care if you shelled out more on the rehab, if you’re priced too high, you’ll end up sitting on the market way longer than you want, driving up holding costs.Lastly if your buying on market, REO or Corporate sellers are dominating and not as willing to negotiate as owners would.

Since you'll be owner-occupying, take advantage of low down payment loans like FHA (3.5%), Conventional (5%), VA (0%), or a 203k loan for renovations.

Ask to speak with some of their current owners and current/former tenants.

For example, maybe you will get to 10, 20, 30 houses and then find an owner who has a large portfolio and all of a sudden you are at a high door count and now need to hire, need to build your policy binder, and all the other stuff that comes with running a business.

The old owner unfortunately locked his tenants into $800 leases which scared away some buyers before he listed.