Have seller sign an "authorization to release loan information" Get my title company to go to work on figuring out exactly what's owed... 

It's a cute story, but if the authorities find out what you did, they will crush you.

@Alan Lambkin , check your management agreement for spending authorization limits.  

TIP: You can get plenty of photos to use from your local chamber of commerce and area tourism authority.

You can technically do SEO yourself, just by creating some high quality inbound links from authority sites and having high quality articles / content both on your site and off your site.That is why you can find people to do "SEO" on fiverr all the way up to someone on elance.com who charges $50/hour.  

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/author/ant...

I did obtain a POA and Authorization to Release Info from the Seller and had those docs on file with the bank so they could talk to me about the account. 

Conducting business in the name of the LLC will not give you any more or less authority to write-off certain expenses and take certain deductions.To answer your questions:1) Yes but see my statement above.2) It is tough to say whether you can offset your commission income with prior passive losses as it depends on whether or not you materially participated in the rental activities of your LLC.The first level of participation is simply "passive" participation.

MencarowNo Comments Given the Dodd-Frank Act’s ill-advised, uninformed and, frankly, insane assault upon seller mortgages as virtually “predatory lending,” members of Congress —who vote on bills they have never read (as a legislative director in the US Congress for years I can assure you that is true) — and cushy-jobs-for-life-can’t-be-fired-no-matter-what-they-do-or-refuse-to-do bureaucrats (who determine how the laws that members of Congress never read are to be interpreted and enforced) need to understand is that seller mortgages are not loans — they are installment sales.

Alternatively, maybe rent it to that kind of organization with authorization to sub lease it, and you donate the lease amount to them to cover it.I am not a lawyer, nor have I consulted a lawyer about this, these are just my thoughts early on in the process like you.