April 1st I'll do a final cleaning/walkthrough. 

Were you ever able to find a way to make identifying properties on these lists easier?

Basically I do the labor and up keep, help him with cutting and splitting firewood from the land, and cleaning years of trash dumping on it by him; in exchange for ownership of the land in 10 years.

It looks clean and contemporary.At my store (I run a local tile shop) we have 24x48" tiles which would allow for even less grout lines. 

I would wait to make the jump into a full-time agent until you've set up systems for success and have a proven track record of sales also, remember its easier to get funding with a solid W-2 than it is with a 1099 in some cases.

It's not your tax files where you might clean them out after 10 years, they cannot be cleared out.If the HOA is out of compliance I would not buy into the unit and if there and they don't comply with your legitimate requests you'll likely have to sue them.BTW, I used to own a lot of property in Houston TX which has no zoning so everything was in an HOA, I've served on HOA boards and been president of HOAs twice including my current residence in CO.

He stated that an umbrella policy would be cheaper and easier... but it never occurred to me that the insurance company would find a way to wiggle out of it.

I've done a couple of these.  50k might be a good price but really depends on what you will have to do to get the place clean. 

I understand the value of networking and making connections, so I don't want to shut the door on the idea of working with other agents in the future to help me find and purchase properties.Second, does having your license in one state make it easier to get your license in another state?

Some servicers are easier than others to work with in regards to getting a sale cancelled.