We had good jobs, zero debt (including our home/land/1 rental property), and I had just completed my undergrad degree program with no specific plan for how to apply it; there is certainly nothing wrong with any of those things but needless to say, we simply wanted more.  

With a HELOC, you can maintain a zero loan balance until you find the right deal and then draw from your HELOC (at which point you will start accruing interest).

Get a forced place insurance policy if your contract allows.

No title insurance company will write a policy.

Her homeowners policy will cover the outside if something happens. 

There are folks that make a fortune and folks that make zero.  

No excuse to not get your own good tenants yourself and itvsounds like his policies are way to lax on management .

The lease stays in place with the sale...you inherit it, so there is no change with the change in ownershipRun your numbers based on the current situation and lease..... then run it on a conservative plan based on increased rents and factor in turn over cost, renovation, vacancy etc..... based on those number you decide if it makes sense to try and buy them out with "cash for key" or suck it up for a year with the current lease or worst case walk away from the dealIts definitely worth a shot to try and renegotiate the selling price based on the current rent..... but sounds like it wont budge much....No way would I try and extend the lease even farther with a tenant that I know ZERO about.....

Looking at the market in our new location, our situation, and risk tolerance I think we want to rent when we get there.I found this site because I am listening to Brandon Turner’s: Rental Property Investing book.

If his debt is already close to property value, you have zero protection against default.