Our personal account is with a large bank and our business account si with a local bank.I think local banks are largely avoided due to convenience.  

Many of you come on to BP looking to start your real estate investment business. Here's a few helpful hints. 1.  BP has some of the most experienced, and intelligent real estate investors, lenders, partners, developer...

If you rent your place out, be sure to follow the below link which contains a guide from BP to renting out your house very carefully, not cutting any corners on tenant screening to avoid future possible headaches.

Then I could avoid both pitfalls. 

You're actually more likely to foreclose on properties that are vacant, so if your goal is to produce interest income, I would recommend that you focus on occupied properties that you expect will be redeemed by the owners/bank.Now if you're talking about wanting to avoid evictions, that's a different story.To answer your question about mortgage companies paying the delinquent property taxes on behalf of the owners:  if the borrower is underwater on their mortgage and not making payments, they bank may decide to walk away rather than throw good money after bad.    

He wants a construction loan, and at the end of the project, turned into a 30 year mortgage (not sure if he could avoid closing costs, but for sure he could avoid selling agent fee). 4.

(Avoid probate?) 

Or pay the repairs in cash to avoid the interest fees?

The quit claim wont flag the lender, however if you are trying to refinance (with the same lender) you should do that first, or transfer it back into your name prior to the refinance to prevent unnecessary underwriting.   

I'd suggesting avoiding REIA groups that charge membership fees, or any "educational" classes that people are trying to make money at.