Financial counselling, debt collectors and mortgage negoiations should be looked into besides the usual business requirements.Some people are more receptive to non-profits, but IMO your reputation will travel faster in your community so you better be above board.

They bought it back in 2000 and during the boom they tired to sell it and had it under contract with someone for 2.7million.

I knew of a bank like that once, Merchants National Bank in Sacramento, I bet they are doing well too.Will, the richest guy I ever met, billionaire and that is not an exaggeration, told me in 2005 that when the mother of all booms was over, there will be several major drops.

Have you met any of the clerks in a collectors office, they usualy aren't really real estate experts, they just may have picked up the permit to the sq. ft. and didn't assign any bedroom designation as they didn't know if it was a den or a bedroom and doesn't really matter to them.

I believe this boom is being reverse engineered; prices up by way of nothing for sale.

If you lived in a $200,000 neighborhood during the boom, and now it's a $100,000 neighborhood after the bust, the people moving in are the ones that used to live in way cheaper areas.It might be a good time (while prices are still low) to buy a house in a nicer area and rent out your current residence.

(Do not buy in boom towns, they tend to go down as fast as they go up.)

I obtain the list from the county tax collector, I run a report for tax delinquent properties within the county. 

(do I need a lawyer, etc) 2) For monthly payments- do I have to physically goto the place to collect or is there some sort of online payment system a personal landlord can use?

BOOM not all heroes wear capes.