To expand, new restrictive rules and penalties are coming from the Dodd -Frank Act, the SAFE act and are being interpreted and enforced by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

A sale transfers ownership and a previous owner has no right to follow through with any suit for eviction, they may seek damages of amounts owed as a debt, you'll need to start from scratch.

I assume I will be seeking creative advice on how to finance my first few Denver homes, the best local banks to use, how to find local wholesalers, etc.

It would be rare for a lender to allow a sale for less than what is owed, but if they do they will need to release the lien and they may not be able to seek a judgment for remaining amounts due if they failed to attempt to get the full amount from the sale.The deal illustrated by Chris would be a great deal, but probably won't happen as the purchase price is less than the mortgage, a 150K home needing 20K in repairs would be about 70% of 130K as the rule of thumb or about 90-92K.

If I wanted to continue marketing in that town, I'd spend a couple of hundred bucks to seek a legal opinion from a lawyer.

However, communications with the bank were slow and uncertain and as a result they kept tacking on late fees and penalties which ate up a good portion of his good faith payments, such that he is still NOT good –in fact he’s 90 days and some $18K in arrears.

Michael any pre-pay penalties on these loans??

Penalties include the UPB being forgiven along with 6 figure fines, under TILA alone, you can look them up, they are on the internet I'm sure.There is no law against reporting what one believes to be a violation, I made no determination in this matter.I'm not anti-lender, I am anti-scammer or illegal operator as it makes things unfair for all the lenders who operate legally.

Florida has a lot of great places if you're seeking a warmer climate/some sun/beaches.

This post is meant to seek out thoughts on what to best do with them.The unit I am working in is below another one, so removing this one probably means that I would need to replace the one above at the same time.