The initial inclination is to keep the properties as rentals, but there are several approaches available to me....

there are two approaches to multifamily sandwich lease options or master lease options You have to be careful about contract law in the state you're in and seeing an attorney about being able to draft leases that are performance-based, another words if the tenant doesn't pay you the middleman, you do not have to pay the seller-ownerMaster lease options on an apartment building, 5+ doors, do not involve Dodd Frank or the safe act, they are in the commercial area.

I am new to this forum, I was introduced to biggerpockets by word of mouth from a fellow real estate investor whom approached me at my job.

Don't be intimidated or afraid to approach some of the more experienced people.

People study subject-to and think it will fit every property they look at, for example, or fix-and-flip, or buy-and-hold, or ...When you understand many strategies you can approach a property and instead of trying make it fit the strategy(-ies) you know you can determine what strategy best fits the property.

Tim's approach seems very sensible, so we may expand our search area.Are there any rules on this forum about describing specific properties?

On the rare exception, I have approached the occupants (tenant or owner) and made it a win-win by offering back for half of what they owed and lower payments...

I haven't heard of this approach from a lender requiring a surety bond - so make sure you do your due diligence.When I bought a 200+ unit deal I used a surety bond for the utility deposits, which was a great strategy and it saved me over $30k. 

I have specific plan to achieve this goal and it is not the usual approach yo see here in BP.

Another approach would have been to show up every week and bid on a few good properties up to your max.