I assume these systems were mostly updates of old octopus systems (fully gravity fed).Local HVAC guys suggest leaving as-is unless someone wants to put AC in - but if we can avoid limiting the (future) borrowers to non-conforming products, that would be good!

Delaware is great for a lot of different scenarios, but not typically in the area you are looking at.Also, S Corps may be great for operational businesses, but you should generally avoid them for anything that holds real estate due to appreciation issues.  

As a seller, I insist upon the Pre-Approval and Verification of Funds to prune the lookie-loos and avoid a failed escrow from the inability to get financing.As a buyer, I would wait for the seller to request either/both and most don't even know about these.

The woman who had the deed transferred in her name is only the court appointed administrator of the estate, from my current research she should be able to transfer deed but i will run a title search.She has been sending her lawyer to the courts avoiding being foreclosed on because the original note was not recorded correctly and they cannot produce it. 

I can understand the desire to avoid large costly legal bills but there is not going to be an easy way around getting the right attorney to defend the right concepts of the whole situation.  

Seems like a needless recurring expense if he has a high enough salary to avoid it. 

You may have to pay something for it, but it isn't a large amount.The only cautionary note is that some community owners, including myself, go to considerable lengths to avoid appearing in those documents so not every file is going to list all of the actual human owners.

With 44 units it gets a little pricey but if it avoid one plumbing call or one electrical call throughout the year it pays for itself. 

I'm wondering if there is any advise out there on what I could have done to avoid some of these fees, or if this is just standard for REOs and simply need to be accounted for in my numbers?

It occurred to me that a couple of years ago I created a bathroom in a lake house we had and I had to put in a rear discharge toilet (sounds redundant) to avoid cutting into the slab by drilling a hole through a cinder block wall.