The monthly rent covers my loan, property taxes, yard care and leaves me with a small amount  per month which I save for repairs.

You can take a loan out for x amount of time to repay.  

This way, I can discount my offer by the amount saved in Realtor commissions and closing costs.4.

But if you can prove otherwise, than deduct the amount to fix it.If you asked the family to leave by Oct. 12th then, yeah, you need to return the pro-rated difference of October's rent.  

It is a lot of information without question, but I want to go to the places that have problems that can be solved with spending a little amount of time.

If a third party buys at the auction, a bank doesn’t pay ANY other liens from their proceeds, unless the auction price was More than their debt......and then anything above the judgment amount is not their money anyway, it goes to junior lien holders in a specific state mandated order, and if any is left over it goes to the borrower.On the other hand, if the Bank gets the property back at the auction, Then they typically pay these liens off, out of their pocket, so they can deliver clear title when Selling the REO.

You wouldn't get the credit for the full $250.00 you would only get credit for $100.00 which was the amount you paid over and above the current market rents as per the appraisal. 

I marketed it to tenant buyers and after about 4 weeks signed an agreement with a Pastor , his wife and there child for market rent - $2000, with the option to buy for $360,000 which the appraisal amount went up about $3000 from that already.

Our personal home mortgage- mortgage is only in her name, but the bank counted my monthly $ contributions towards our qualifying income amount.

Please click on the links, give them a read, and share your thoughts in the comments.First is a post that I feel will help not get overwhelmed with the amount of info that is here on BP:https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/5868/52761-the-simple-guide-to-getting-started-on-bp The second is a post that will help get you focused with your real estate investing goals:https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/5868/52743-im-new-to-bp-any-advice-would-be-appriciatedThe last one is a post that will help you choose an “investor friendly” real estate agent.