If the seller was making such a suggestion, he's either a broker, attorney or maybe at a title plant, otherwise he is missfiring maybe a scammer and neither of you appear to be on the right path. .....get help!

Warm up all the spaces with plants, decorations, towels in the baths, etc.

I'm going plant grass later.

Petersburg, being your next door neighbor and part of the same Metro area, has suffered from the same hedge fund activity.

Doors get punched a lot when people rent, your going to replace some of those, you will spend a lot of time in Lowes or Home Depot.Spruce up your outside property with new paint on a fence, plant perrennial flowers, and replace bad grass with sod and water water water.

Here whether the person residing in the property is a former home owner or a renter makes no difference.They become a tenant at sufferance at that point whoever they are and you must evict if they will not leave on their own.Here in Georgia if the property looks vacant and no more than 500 of personal property is inside you can re-key and fore go the eviction process at your own discretion.Cash for keys can be good but a word of caution.You don't want them to agree to cash for keys and then renig on the deal and make you evict them.You will have lost even more time.Instead you go ahead and file eviction and then get an agreement for cash for keys.This way they know if they renig on cash for keys you have the eviction in process to get them out.Ask for the property to be left in "broom swept condition" and free of junk.They don't get the cash until everyone is out of the building and it is clean.Make sure and change ALL exterior door locks and not just the front.

A lot of times being creative with the grade and plantings will suffice.

The information that I have access to at my fingertips is absolutely priceless, but I think that I've intaken too much information,and now I'm suffering from ANALYSIS PARALYSYS.

Just make sure it's in a solid location, and that the bldg isn't suffering from major issues.Your intuition to leverage and buy another So Cal property is spot on- that's exactly how I made all my money here in San Francisco.

I work in the ypsi Ford Rawsonville plant...drive up from Toledo daily.