The REO was horribly neglected, sitting vacant at least since 2013 or longer ... which meant it needs a lot of work, $150K worth of work to be exact.

The front living room area smells like fireplace HORRIBLY, and the house is so dirty it is tough to live in.

While I can't speak for Cleveland, here in Kansas City the $15,000 neighborhoods just have vacant lots with a few houses here and there, there are no jobs in the area, no amenities in the area, the schools are horrible  . . . while that $15,000 could be spent on a down payment a few miles a way in South Kansas City, Raytown, Independence on a $50,000 to $80,000 house and you may not get the same returns on paper as the $`15,000 house, but you have less back end expenses, tenants who have jobs and the desire to feed their kids good food and send their kids to better schools and more occupied houses . . .less vacant lots, so less breakins and theft.Move up on that price range to  an $80,000 to $120,000 neighborhood and you can do even better.  

Failing that, always assume the worst anyway, and explain to the Seller why you are fully justified in giving them a horribly low Offer.

It's just horribly overgrown, Gazebo in a Jungle <---click here to view a video.Thank you for your thoughts!

That's not horrible compared to the glossy purple in a crazy cat house I was imagining...

That is the problem with looking at national forums for advice, what may be good in one area may be horrible in another.

The house has been there since 1976 and had no flood history, so I did not opt to buy flood insurance.I feel horrible for the tenants, and I have no clue what I am going to do with this house that I just renovated a year ago.  

It's because they are either on housing assistance, one paycheck from a disaster, drug dealers, or they have horrible credit score.

To me that rent is horribly blow for a property worth 500kI also don't like mortgages and so it seems you don't either.