Trustee sale date is a week out from now and I'm not sure if there is anything else we can do to avoid it going to foreclosure. 

Avoid buying in the hood no matter how good the numbers look on paper.

If it was paid by the original owner and only the owner the State would release the property back to the individual.Before a property is sent to auction the State would then do a title search and to see who has the invested interest in the property.What's not exactly clear to me, is why I can't get the owner to pay property taxes with provided funds to avoid the auction, then try to work out an agreement with Mortage company. 

Everything is going to black stainless these days so by going just black your sort of catching the trend and avoiding a potential of looking dated with stainless in 5 years or so. 

Classifications of course are very subjective, but in JAX, I would only consider properties that rent for $950 or more if you want to avoid riskier neighborhoods.

So you may avoid the $100 a year increase in rent, but what about increase in taxes, insurance, or the general cost of living?

@John Thedford Is an agent, HML and owns a dozen or so rentals in the area.He won’t be the “take you around and show you 100 properties kind of guy” but he certainly knows the market, the areas to avoid, etc.

The downside is you lose the experience of someone else with more or different experience than you, my guys have helped me avoid a lot of major issues through the years that I would have missed. 

Make it about the property to avoid drama.

It sucks, but keep going, not all of them will suck, and hopefully you can learn what to avoid with this experience.Another tactic I do, is when I get bad news..