So I am looking in New York and it occurred to me that it is obviously helpful when contacting existing owners to already know generally what the story is worth regard to any possible liens on the property.  

Showing a unit in non-move in condition does more harm than good.Do not try and do anything while you are not the owner.

That provides a unique position for us, our inhabitants, and our housing market.If you want to assume very little risk, there is no harm in waiting a year to see what pans out.

Its good to hear that it can be done, but must be managed well and planned for before the relocation occurs.

I think I have listened to that exact podcast before & not sure why it didn't occur to me to find out who the broker was.  

Include a list of common damage items and what you will charge if they occur while that tenant rents the apartment.

I don't see any harm in keeping it in a high yield savings account, as always check with state regs to make sure this is legal.

@Stone Teran check with an attorney, but often times laws allow for quicker evictions when crimes are occurring on the property - maybe this would qualify?

As i write this, our town had about 3.5" of rain in 36 hrs or less, and again there is 2-3" of rain that somehow made it into the basement (even after i had a plumber install a check valve on the only visible drain).I'm now at the point where its been roughly 20 months with THREE occurances of basement flooding on a house where the basement is very much needed space.

I'm also going to scour this site for information on LLCs....right now our properties our under our personal names and an LLC never occurred to me.