So it could be a grand slam or take you under.

Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Grand Prairie are all decent sized and have their upside.

Is Grand Rapids still a good market for investors?

My wife served on a Grand Jury and she might disagree with your characterization. 

In the grand scheme of things I could just make these improvements, but I'm not really interested in making improvements and then having bums who only care about the cheapest price come into my property. 

Calculate your loss months of rents if you have to eat this for a year or more, plus the attorney costs, plus whatever damage he decides to do, plus the emotional strain, and compare all that to paying a few grand now to be done.  

I was thinking if I reach out and work with them before the auction I could buy the property for the back tax bill plus couple grand to the owner.

Grand space, huge deck, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a while downstairs unit that they were leasing to a friend.

I'm not a mortgage underwriter, but as I understand it the problem with closing out a line of credit just before applying for a home loan is that you have to prove it was you (not the institution that issued the credit) who closed it.In the grand scheme of getting a home loan, given the masses of documentation you have to provide, a letter of explanation and proof that you paid the loan off is kind of trifling.

I am a beginner and still don't know how much money you can loose or gain in this real estate worldI think now I understand that the question should have been 'How to make 10k to 13k grand on rents' in next 10 years.