All of the interior surfaces (drywall, flooring, most trim, lower cabinets etc.) need to be removed, the house needs to be dried, everything needs to be sprayed to kill any mold, and surfaces need to be replaced.  

Fix it and rent it to solid tenants at slightly below market rent.If you see a financial storm coming, keep your powder dry, but don't stop doing deals.Keep moving forward!

I have a profitable job but have had an interest in Real Estate for quite a while but never pulled the trigger.

something that helped me was to get a great PM on your side before you pull the trigger (hence promise them your future business), they will keep you out of the wrong side of town, give you realistic area rents and tell you what's trending, meaning what are young families looking for etc...then after everything is in place go the extra mile and spend time locating a local handy man you can pay yourself independently, typically an older gentleman who works for himself, make sure he's not affiliated with your PM, he'll be the guy you send to look at things to make sure your PM is keeping a tight ship, essentially another set of eyes, who can look at the bigger ticket works orders before you order them...so just tell your PM you have a friend who you like to send over to see the bigger issues...for example: i can tell you that i've avoided $4k HVAC replacement orders several times, given some AC people are dishonest...an issue arose at a house they sent the AC people and they wanted to replace ...but I call my guy before doing anything, so my guy goes in and identifies and even fixes a much simpler issue, in 2 cases replacing the Capacitor ...a $30 battery pack that fits onto the outside Unit...that's just one example...cost me $100 all told, these issues will kill your cash flow, and your PM may simply not have time or bandwidth to double check everything etc...

There is nothing illegal or immoral about triggering this 'option', nor is there a duty to inform the bank.

My down-payment will satisfy the remaining balance on their current mortgage, which is necessary in this specific case because the bank won't let the owner provide financing without triggering the due-on-sale clause of their agreement.

The guy looks at me and says "I hand to use a bucket, water was pouring out..." it was bone dry, I fix it in an hour and I’m on my way.

In my experience, wholesaling seems to be a pretty cut and dry business where you market to a seller, meet a seller, put a house under contract, transfer that contract to an investor who wants to either flip or rent the property and collect an acquisition fee for your hard work marketing and acquiring the property.There's some wholesalers out there that do some practices unethically but dont let that wear on your ability to act with integrity and do whats right by your seller even if your not the best solution for them at the end of the day.  

I think one of the triggers is when a property is sold off market. 

Doctor's office, restaurants, gyms, environmentally green dry cleaners, experiential type tenants,etc.Tenants where people can (drop and shop) and go order online for cheaper we avoid.