I'd not been there for several months as is often the case and didn't know it but they'd instituted a new policy where buyers need to show an official ID when going up to pay after winning that bid, this due to the goofs who were wholesaling or whatever and would put their 10% down and then use whatever name, so they could then simply call their buyers and find whoever wanted to buy it and then that person would show up for the confirmation hearing and pay the balance.

You definitely want to check with your CPA, but in my state, if you lived in the home as a primary residence for 2 out of the last 5 years, you will not have to pay capital gains tax and can roll that equity into your next property.

With the current market, I will not be able to make my required cash flow after paying all operating cost including mortgage, vacancy, property tax, insurances, maintenance cost, no need for a property manager because I can manage it.

You do not pay him directly.

Landlord pays for utilities.

We'd probably have to believe it would pay us high-teens IRR, and would have to feel really confident in the sponsor's experience, construction crew, and local expertise.

Once you find a house that you believe would be a good rental, meaning desirable to your target market of customers (people within a couple of mile radius of the place), and all of the costs of monthly ownership that you can accurately project fall below the rental amounts that you project that you can get from your target customers, then you have a possible business asset that you can use to produce income, and have renters pay down the mortgage, while hopefully it goes up in value at least with the rest of the economy. 

Remember to "trust but verify" every decision you make. 

Slow Pay vs No Pay. 

Also, this property is adjacent to 2 other properties is in a trust with siblings. 2 siblings still live on property.