Biggest challenges:1) Keeping the lender in the dark about the Subject-To transaction, but NOT doing it illegally. - Inform lender property will be a rental, which supports changing mailing & email address they have on file (to you).- Have yourself added as additionally insured to seller's insurance policy.2) Accessing loan info and acting on behalf of seller- You'll need seller's SSN and loan number so you can log into lender website for payments, tax info, etc.- You'll need a Specific Power of Attorney from the seller, to sign for them on any existing loan docs, regardless of who the lender is.3) You'll also want seller to sign a disclose acknowledging they understand the Due on Sale risk and everything above.

I hope not.Let's see, you say "We have 3-4 hrs between check-out/in" and "wait 2+ hours and unload" the math says there is plenty of time.I have to assume they aren't sitting on the porch smoking a corncob pipe.

Once a tenant moved out on a dark and rainy night, the tenant's son broke back in wrecked the place, got drunk, fired off big fireworks in the duplex and broke holes in doors and walls.

Funny, you can smoke dope, steal from Nordstrom's, break windows at Starbucks, sleep on the street, and other things I won't mention here, but if you try to help someone that is in foreclosure save some equity you can be arrested. 

The dark winters here certainly can take a toll. 

I was in Northern CA last weekend and saw a few mills log decks and they were stacked with fire damaged logs not sure how they go about salvaging those logs.. but they may  sell the ones with smoke damage as Artisanal lumber lumber

Best option to find those smoking deals is to continue to network and learn more about the market trends.

That is extremely difficult, especially with an inexperienced borrower, unless the deal is just such a smoking deal that there's so much money in it that nobody could possibly screw it up. 

Maintenance / SafetyAdd carbon monoxide and smoke detectors to 1stand 2nd floor (42) Remove old detectorsInstall gutter downspouts to prevent moisture intrusion (126) Reinstall vapor barrier in crawl space (127) Replace insulation within wall by the bathtub (106)§ To be discussed when wall is openedPine PanelingInstall 1x6 T&G Pine Paneling Everywhere that vertical paneling is currently installed.

I think what you were dealing with is a loudmouth, pot smoking, alcohol drinking, hard rock listening barking dog.