If she owes $285k then she's going to have closing costs that would eat up the rest of the $10k asking price so she's probably just looking to get out of it. 

I won't mention the "waiting for biggerpockets to respond" stuff, or timing out after sending a long post and losing it or being able to eat a sandwich while I scroll up the page to use the back button or go to the forums, all that can wait...... :) 

Very good point about property taxes eating into the profits.  

There are always a ton of little things that have to be done on a rehab like this that go unseen, but they always manage to eat at the budget and time.

The reality is low end rentals will just eat out of state investors lunch.There was a thread a while back on BP that asked for anyone who had lived in CA or other areas and invested out of state that has been owned for more than 10 years.. the responses were crickets on BP...

That is something you have a choice over in your life.A positive way is exercising, having healthy hobbies etc.Destructive is addictive type problems like over eating, drinking, smoking, social disorders, doing drugs, compulsive gambling, infidelity etc.

You rent it out and eat the $700+ a month in losses. 

If it is not possible to pull equity from owner finance, do you suggest I get a loan and purchase that way and eat the closing costs?

Companies don't usually like this because you're "eating someone else's lunch."2) If it's not allowed by the HOA, someone is probably going to call you out eventually (your guests disturbed them, somebody already stopped them, etc..)

If the house sells, the fees/closing costs actually eat up what little profit there is.Normally, on a lease option, when the tenant backs out, the investor makes out because they get to keep the lease option fee.