But here's the catch, the house is in NY still under the parent's name.

It's hard to compete.There are some new lists that are catching traction and proving effective but haven't yet gotten over-mailed.

@Richard Forbes first I want to congratulate you on catching the RE bug and wanting to take massive action.

The best strategy is to pump the breaks. and wait for people to back out of projects and let the lumber mills catch up.I've looked into metal stud framing for interior walls.

We don't want to catch a falling knife, and we are running numbers all the time to see if it will all work and continuing to look for opportunities as they come.

Do I roll the dice and hope that they begin to pay and eventually catch up on their $1,200/month rent, or file eviction now which is basically a guarantee that I won’t receive a dime for at least nine months?

You will never catch everything, and even if you do, it doesn't mean the seller will budge on price. 

If you are thinking of flipping, I'd do a cashout refi as this is a risky market and you could get stuck trying to catch the "falling knife". 

Prior, he didn't miss any payments, however, with COVID he missed March and was late each month until July when he finally was able to pay the backlog and catch up.

Upon catching this (as a first time buyer), I contacted my agent to discuss the issue.