@Rickie LattimoreGive up 95% of the equity - oversee the properties and collect a management fee.

If you catch these at the pre-foreclosure stage as slow pays or initially in default all the better as the bank has less in collection expense.You can still work out a discount but even buying at the payoff it can be profitable depending on the property value.You can practically force a lender to sell as it can fully indemnify them as a full payoff as demanded, continuing with a foreclosure becomes a rather vengeful act by the bank to punish a borrower, they don't want to go there.

Sometimes maybe often times they aren't doing enough to track down the owner or owner's heirs and just collecting checks from the court.

Simultaneously, develop a detailed scope of work and collect bids from multiple contractors to compare costs and timelines.

If you don't want the property any more a 1031 is probably your best bet, unless it's got a huge capital gains capture in which case you could just take your tax lumps and collect your funds. 

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

The more experience you get the more sophisticated you can get in your approach to investing. 

If you want to move assets off shore those assets may or may not be subject to collection depending on the country.  

If you choose not to show up, he would almost certainly be awarded a judgement.Of course, you could choose not to pay the judgement, but then he can send it to a collections agency and your credit score will be trashed.I don't see a scenario here where you get through this cleanly.  

The goal is to make money, collect profits, NOT collecting properties.