In the land of no income or sales tax (New Hampshire), the property taxes are probably the biggest source of income for the state so the rates are rather high (think ~$26 per thousand assessed).

The lot is 21,000 sqft, it's assessed at $52,000, and the seller wants $35,000.

If you follow the progress of that exact property he acquires it with HM and is going to refi as soon as he can.

I have 10k in cash and assess to a HELOC for these efforts.

Drop the price a little if you want, but if you know the rental rates in your area it should be an easy assessment.

It's a progressive, green, and increasingly walkable area.

There were other sellers that I felt weren't, I'll say "on top of it" or unique situations where I wanted more assurance of control.The contractor did about 60 or so homes (he finally got smarter, made enough money to do things on his own) and set up his own operation and branched out as well.Risks, if you don't know what you're doing you can lose, need to do the same assessments as if you bought the house, so there are those issues.The only risk associated with the owner is dying or being unable to continue, that's really only a holding cost or time matter as that can be managed.Never had an owner try to pull out, a few lost interest, but none backed out.

While my personal assessment doesn’t hold any weight as I am sure section 8 tenants like everyone else had failed to pay their rent at some point and time.

Good luck to you and keep us updated on your progress.

http://www.meetup.com/AustinRENC/events/149755552/ If you can make it there that would be great, if not, I am down to meet up some time for coffee and learn more about your progress in RE.