The owners told me that they would be happy if someone paid off the outstanding debt + $3k.

How do you handle not knowing what liens may be outstanding?

I already have mortgage preapproval with my broker, so that is ready to roll for the other property.I'm limiting discussion to unit 1 since I found out last night that on unit 2, the HOA will not accept our settlement offer of $6k on a $16k outstanding balance (seller hasn’t paid dues in 2 years) to make the deal happen.

I do have outstanding credit, people had to call in and check to see if I knew what I was talking about because of what it is at for a college kid.

All payments made by Tenant to Landlordafter the tenancy commences, no matter how designated by Tenant, will beapplied as follows: first, to any outstanding amounts due for damages/repairs,utilities etc.; second, to any outstanding service charges or fees from priormonths; third, to any rent outstanding from prior months; fourth, to anyservice charges or fees due in the current month; and lastly to the currentmonth’s rent."

If the sales price of your property (other than farm property or personal property) exceeds $150,000, interest must be paid to the government on the deferred tax to the extent that your outstanding installment receivables exceed $5 million.Tip: Keep an eye on the $5 million limit if you want to preserve tax deferral.

Since I'm new to this industry, and being the usual cynic, I'm wondering if there is a possibility of any outstanding debt that would have to be paid on a property outside of the asking price.i.e. is there a potential for backtaxes?

There are a couple of reasons why I am considering doing so, but before getting into them, let's see if I can understand the risks involved with reaching out to them:1) I might undermine the authority of the PM.2) I open myself up to that possible 2 a.m. call in the future when the the PM should be contacted instead.3) With my contact information, the tenant could potentially play me and the PM off of each other down the road, making the PM's job and my life unnecessarily complicated.I own an SFR in Indianapolis and am dissatisfied with my current PM because 1) they're not even based in Indianapolis and more importantly2) they don't always return my calls/emails and take too long to give me basic status updates on items like outstanding work orders.

If the water and garbage is not paid along with their rent, then their rent will be applied to any outstanding bills owed to you.  

First, many banks include acceleration clauses in their mortgage loan agreements, which may require immediate payment of any outstanding balance if there is a transfer of ownership.