$250k is probably right in that market, but thats a guess, I've never tried to fix anything in Mass, I just know that it costs more than the markets I'm in.$100k in income on a $600k investment works all day long, your long term prospects are great. 

Would it be wise to do a simple knock on the door and try see if the people occupying the house are tenants to the bank paying rent or if they are the previous owners playing hard ball.

Most would agree that, barring any contradictory information, holding a property for a year is appropriate to demonstrate that intent.The timelines come into play when you start an exchange.  

Playing with debt and short term, high IRR equity deals is somewhat of a game of musical chairs.  

Brandon has BP, Ben Leybovich has CFFU, and others just continue doing things within real estate (PM, flipper, broker, realtor, developer, etc..) to reduce the turbulence.The concept of retiring quickly using RE has been published in blog posts and mentioned in several podcasts but it is oversimplified for mass media production.

That is where BP will come into play.  

Even when I'm aware and I default a borrower for doing this, if I can see that there is progress with a refinance, I'll usually file my NOD to "Alert" the parties that I'm not playing (and to start the clock in case the transaction falls apart...happens all the time) but, i'll hold off on publishing (my scenario assumes non judicial foreclosure, meaning, not using the court system) to give them time to facilitate the transaction.

He does some value add office plays.

I have my real estate license and hope it can play a big part in acquiring properties.  

No matter how I try to approach it with her, it ends up getting pushed to the side because the idea of 'playing with our money like that' stresses her out.