Please do both of us a favor, and write it down on a piece of paper and burn it.

Sometimes I wonder if people just feel better about themselves to spend all those nights and weekends on real estate when, realistically speaking, they would have earned just as good a return (or pretty close to it) by investing in a stock market index fund and had way more free time in life  I realize my premise here is antithetical to the whole notion of BiggerPockets so of course bigger pockets hates me writing this, as do all real estate agents and property managers, but it’s the truth and everyone needs to think about it

I was definitely not going to miss the opening weekend haha.A movie is definitely more enjoyable after walking 3+ miles to see it.

Well anyone can write anything into a contract, but whether it is legal and enforceable is for the courts to decide...It is State law here that a contractor must call 811 or they are liable for the costs.

Buffalo changes very quickly block to block (not just ZIP by ZIP) and it is crucial that you understand this prior to writing any checks. 

Leaving out auction and foreclosure costs for a second, when you write that check for $220k the trustee is going to pay BigBadBank the $175k they are owed first, then he's going to pay LittleBadBank the remaining $45k, and you will get a clean title as the process is going to wipe the slate clean.

Quote from @Theresa Harris: Get it in writing, change the locks, get the place listed and find new tenants. 

Fees should be clearly stated in writing, easy to understand, and justifiable.

Now this is an annual thing (for all new properties).For rough math, you can generate a tax write off about 15-20% of the real estate value: one a million you can expect a $150k to 200k write-offs.

Since you're a citizen but you live and work abroad you'd still qualify mostly for second homes occupancy or investor non owner occupancy (primary is hard to claim if your job requires you to be physically next to the office as an example so an underwriter isnt going to readily believe you unless you can get HR to write you a letter to state you're remotely capable of earning this income/job duties anywhere).Hopefully that helps let me know if you have further questions into mortgage planning.