The house has never been updated since the 70's.The last issue we have is there seems to have been a leak in a finished room in a corner of the basement, next to a wall that seems to be a little out of plumb due to a small 11 inch diameter tree trunk growing on the side of the house.

We have owned the house for 15 years and we have gone from Country wide to Green tree and now Ditech.

I actually use blank cards I get from dollar tree.

Am I barking up the wrong tree?

As you've alluded to, those deals on big ones don't just fall off the trees every where.  

And if you don't have the wherewithal to pay-to-play/learn & be in the red like every other new small business starting out, then it might not  be your cup of tea.

Be wary of non-conforming units in a purchase — might be illegal to have tenants staying there AND you have to pay them to leave…a ridic double whammyCDP didn’t use GC for garage, was able to save margin thereBuy own toilets, usually have crazy markupReceived credit for trees interfering with sewer line during inspection, but didn’t use in closing negotiation, although totally could have

I decided to have all of the units exteriors painted, dead trees and low lying limbs trimmed, gravel laid, and rail road ties placed to designate parking areas.

Cheapest and easy to do while you are D4D2) Anywho or any free online service but these often have outdated info and low probability of success but still free3) County tax assessor's office to see if they have the owner's address - takes time and not very accurate4) Putting "Address Service Requested" and mailing to that address if they have a mailbox - cost of a letter and first class stamp5) Skiptracing (costs money though) - $5-10 (findtheseller, privateeye, TLO, etc.)6) Full stalker mode - "Drew out his entire family tree from Intelius" lol @ Lloyd Stanton, it worked for him but I've never done it7) Stick a sign on their property saying you want to buy the home (people have done this but I haven't due to not knowing the legalities of it)

Cheapest and easy to do while you are D4D2) Anywho or any free online service but these often have outdated info and low probability of success but still free3) County tax assessor's office to see if they have the owner's address - takes time and not very accurate4) Putting "Address Service Requested" and mailing to that address if they have a mailbox - cost of a letter and first class stamp5) Skiptracing (costs money though) - $5-10 (findtheseller, privateeye, TLO, etc.)6) Full stalker mode - "Drew out his entire family tree from Intelius" lol @ Lloyd Stanton, it worked for him but I've never done it7) Stick a sign on their property saying you want to buy the home