I lived in it and rented out all of the other 5 bedrooms to my friends and lived free for many years. that is an excellent strategy for a beginner. i did not know what i was doing nor did i realize that that was a good strategy until years later.

You want this disclosed up front and there is no confusion later. 

We had to foreclose and evict, and we got the property back several months later, now excessively damaged. 

Welcome @Chris MoydI hope you can make that role switch sooner than later.

Nobody picks up the phone - you just leave a message and someone calls you back several hours later.  

Few years later was the economic crash and the condo's value dropped in half.

Then later you will be putting in quite a bit of cash if it needs all the things you say.The only benefit to holding would be the monthly equity buildup thru principal reduction on your mortgage, which is a slow, (and some depreciation) but fairly sure way to amass equity,  a free house in 15 to 30 years is a great thing., but 30 years is a long time...however you have to be prepared for the possibility that the rents could go down and not cover the mortgage (not too likely in my opinion) or the vacancy factor could go up and you again may not be able to cover the mortgage.Lastly if we have another crash in values and it goes down under what you owe then your $35k equity could disappear.These scenarios could cause you to  end up giving it back to the bank and ruin you credit thru no fault of your own.

I'm sure the landowner has their motivations for supposedly not wanting to sell or sell, or maybe they're advanced in age and need the cash flow for now, but would be willing to sell later etc ... who knows??

Unfortunately, I bought RIGHT before the crash, but I stuck with it, continued renting, and 10 years later the value has gone back up.I'm beginning to think a condo might be my best option here in LA because a 2-4 plex seems impossible with my savings/budget.

It was the book looking stuff that set off my BS Meter, anticipating what is to come later.