Get a copy of your local legal news papers, find lawyers who are doing business and running ads in that publications; foreclosures, tax sale etc. call them.There is also a publication that list lawyers and what the specialize in, I am not sure the name of it, but it is a national publication.You can also find a suitable lawyers by attending houses and rent court in your area, chat with them, ask for referrals (in-between cases).You can also find some super deals there also.

The borrower will have to qualify in full for the new loan and be able to carry this loan plus any new loan they may have and have the required reserves and ratios suitable for an investment property.I think you are going to have title issues.

It's possible it might be suitable for a landlord investor too - but either way I won't be holding it myself.I'll checkout the CRS system - not sure how to get it to pull comps yet, but I'll investigate - thanks for the suggestion.

She found a suitable candidate and he passed the checks.

If you don't have a rental, all your expenses before getting one are considered startup expenses and are limited in amount and scope.If you get an entity (most likely an LLC since S and C corporations are not suitable for buy&hold real estate), then you can start deducting all your business expenses - although most likely accumulating deductions till you'll actually have some income to apply the deductions to it.

My question to anyone out there is: Do you think it is possible to find any kind of suitable property in this neighborhood that could either be a multi or be made into a multi, and NOT have to buy one of the cheap, falling-down, gonna-cost-300K-to-fix properties that seem to be the only non-retail ones on the market?

I just bought a Duplex in Philadelphia and the previous owner never bothered getting a Rent Suitability License, nor had the property lead swiped.Our new single mom tenant isn't paying her rent and we gave her notice to vacate (she is month to month).

It would also BENEFIT them financially to attempt to find a suitable replacement for themselves (you would need the final approval for anyone they find).Remember THEY are the ones breaking the lease. 

The house has been vacant for a few years, and  was not winterized and some pipes have broken, The house is older and does not have a suitable crawl space to get under and fix.

If it is not suitable for SFR development, I would take a pass on it and keep looking.