There was a notice on the garage door and the front door stating something to the effect of "this house has been deemed to be empty and reported."

Here in Kansas City the waiting list to get a Section 8 voucher / Public Housing unit is 3 years, it’s definitely not an overnight process, while they do grant emergency vouchers under certain provisions, ex: displacements, death, etc, another good place to market properties to find Section 8 tenants is www.socialserve.com , I usually take flyers downtown to the Housing Authority (Section 8 office) and that actually has been most effective.

I explain that I'm an investor, and that if they can't provide very competitive price (along with quality work), they shouldn't waste their time bidding the job.

Bill Gulley So if the quit claim goes through, I can still obtain title coverage, and that would effectively confer on me the same benefits as a warranty deed (grant deed here in CA) would have?

Don't ever waste your time disputing with the bureaus.

Marie Poe I agree that it might be a waste of cash to clean out every house, but this was more than your average trashout.

As was pointed out, the effective rents will be well below $550, the maintenance and vacancies will be high, and the numbers don't work even if it is really cheap.

Overall was a wasted trip so be careful as the agents there do not support their own written "Code of Ethics".

I've considered using a manager but for one property it never seemed cost-effective.

Any work beyond that is wasted $$$.