What are your strategies for an initial offer, that I could apply to my situation?

I'm often not quite sure what exactly is meant, because they have pre-determined codes that might not fit exactly the situation.

However I thought I would post here to to document this experience for anyone else who might find themselves in this situation and to ask are we the crazy ones for standing our ground or is this the broker in charge from hell?

No complaints so far.Try to stay more on the north side as crimes are less there.It kind of a risk reward type situation. 

Details:Outstanding loan amount on the home is $187kPreviously listed for sale this year at $250kArea comps are around $300k and rents around $2000/moPhotos in sale listing show a mild hoarding situation and listing says house needs some workMy main question is, in a sale like this, if the outstanding loan balance is $187k, is that all the mortgage company is concerned with or are they looking to make as much as possible?

They most likely won't allow as high leverage as FHA in (1), but they'll be used to "unique" situations.

Do lenders standardly do short sale in the situation owner has passed?

Unfortunately it's not that easy, IRR is discount rate that makes the net present value (NPV) of all cash flows from your deal equal to zero.I would only use it in a situation where you are looking at two deals and all other factors are the same (which is almost never the case).Or if you are looking at deals with a IRR of 15% to 20% and you run across a deal that says they are estimating a 10% IRR then that's not going to work and you can eliminate it.

I have used this strategy in various situations, but most of the time, if the seller is willing to do it, then I will set it up with owner financing because the terms of the loan and the deal are usually more favorable to me than if I were to get some other form of financing. 

I’m sure there is a ton of holes in my situation that you all will point out.