Some have been sitting for 2-4 years and it is depleting their reserves yet they had no initiative to work with an investor even to grant a temporary, no occupancy agreement for us to rehab and resell to a 55+ end user.Hoping someone has success with it and can share an alternate route they may have used to get the deal done.

I currently use the free listings for my area and have found that like most of the foreclosure sites out there - they do not work to clean up their list.  

Of course we could also just buy a house that is worth half as much and buy it with all-cash, but would prefer not since that would pretty well deplete all our savings. 

We are also puting in time to help with clean up and donating where we can.

@Alan McCoy Benefits:Solid customer base, depends on location and nearby competition.Good cash flowYou can hire employees to manage for you, freeing up your timePitfalls:If the Phase I or II environmental report is not clean, clean up can be costly.Profit margins on gas sales is tight; c-store sales can provide you with better marginsDifficult in obtaining conventional financing; that's where SBA 7(a) comes in

I also have had to clean up behind smokers.

The man can't even get out of bed to clean up his own room let alone fix a tenant's. 

Everything combined makes me think Dayton's decline is over.There's still a lot of changing to happen and past neglect to clean up.

. $1,500 for painting, $500 for yard cleanup, etc etc).

If you have tenants trashing your property, it's your responsiblity to take care of the problem, not your neighbors or future tenants.Good post TC.Similar to police zero tolerance programs and other policies used to clean up whole neighborhoods.