PS: as far as the consumer debt goes, most of it was accrued through a run of bad luck.

@John MorganJust out of curiosity, did you do a background check on them early on?

Through the simple passage of time, she may have accrued a legally recognized defense against future attempts to foreclose. 

Always great to see another active investor from the Houston area.Out of curiosity, which lender did you use for your deal?

We are currently looking at duplexes with 4br 2ba, and it seems that historical utilities combined for these if the owner pays are in the neighborhood of 300-400$ a month.It definitely is a gamble in Northeast Ohio to take the time to install additional meters to pass on the fees to the tenant, but you are right that if it means I have to lower rents to compensate its a wash on income and a negative on the expense I accrued due to metering.

Out of curiosity, what's the reason you're striving for retirement?

Let me state up front that I am asking this totally out of curiosity!

Just pure curiosity - trying to get a feel for various markets.

Looking for feedback on which target markets will bring the highest percentage of calls from motivated sellers versus just curiosity or tire kicker calls - mailing to a general farm area, vacant properties, probate, divorce, pre-forclosure, etc.Which two are the most effective.

The one or 2 that were not were extraordinarily flakey and never completed the initial intake process.Out of curiosity I just checked my locations fair market rent which the voucher is based on and my rents are far beyond those listed.