@Alex Chamberlain I agree with the rest of the comments so far, not enough returns for me at that purchase price.

Weighing the pros and cons of portfolio loans vs hard money since conventional loans and FHA are not options for me at this point. 

You have a couple more options on trying to evaluate if a tank is present.  1) If the property is old, you may be able to identify the presence of a tank on a sanborn map that you could correlate with the anomaly in the field.   2) use a utility probe rod or a hand auger to dig down to the tank and see if its there. 3) review old site plans to determine the presence of a tank4) will the bank allow you to just collect soil and/or groundwater samples adjacent to the tank in lieu of digging it up? 

If you can get past those two obstacles then small town is a great option. 25 years of buy and hold has me at 17 units, all very affordable.

Maybe for some it makes sense, however for me the loss of the normal deductions with the added costs of Property management ( I self manage my properties now), fiduciary custody fees and the headache of dealing with the litany of other things that can pop up whenever the IRS decides to make some sort of change that can disqualify me at any given time makes me think....no thanks

I did get a licensed HVAC guy to calculate and tell me what size ducts etc ( he got paid by meeting me at the supply warehouse where I paid him , he then went in and bought it , and I loaded the materials - I don't know and I don't care how much he made , it was a good deal for me ) .

The eviction crew met me at the house at 9am, as scheduled.

That doesn't concern me at this point.My question is how is it handled when I don't have a tenant in place during the purchase.

I don't know that there is enough meat on the bone for an investor to come in and give you a profit and themselves.  

You may have to talk to several agents and have them check with their brokers and boards before you get one to say yes Real estate agents, unless they are investors l, won't buy the house you have under contract but if the deal has enough meat to pay their 6% commission research shows they will help you get more than that.