The most common advice was to put the home into an LLC and then add the LLC to a trust. 

You can even have an attorney available 24/7 for less than $40.00 a month.TITLE: Since you live in Illinois you should use an Illinois Land Trust to take title to all future purchases.

Trust the numbers and don't force them.In similar situations I let it go, tell the seller my last offer stands then let it sit for another month or six weeks before sending them a revised offer and re-engaging with them.Good luck, trust the numbers, they won't lead you astray but your emotions will.

The property has a current tax valuation of $861k and I am looking to purchase the place for nearly double that (it's actually a great price for the building trust me!). 

If you don’t want to go the management company route and are comfortable with going passive, check out DSTs (Delaware Statutory Trusts).

And, if 60% of the units have been updated, you need a CapEx plan to address the other 40% to increase rents.  

This worked fine and I trusted this guy .

The law does recognize that anyone who for years does not use their property, does nothing to maintain it, does not pay taxes and cannot be located through their contact info and addresses of record -has implicitly abandoned their real estate.

If the answer is yes, then I would be comfortable investing as long as I like and trust the sponsor.Gino

The property was conveyed to a living trust before the owner died, and one of the heirs appears to be the trustee.