Out of curiosity, what are the 2 and 4 units going for in your area. 

We drove by the old house a few days ago out of curiosity.  

In other words, Grandpa purposely didn't deal with the mortgage lien on the property as grandpa was in fact the mortgagee which by causing a default benefits his personal interest as the mortgagee by creating a barrier to reinstatement for lack of debt service and the excessive accrued interest.  

However, having read some threads, the idea of being a real estate lender also piqued my curiosity as an alternative. 

You could even stop in just to ask what they are paying for their lease out of curiosity.

I am giving this away and giving cash flow to charity.Well, Jay, it's not entirely free if they have to pay taxes, come on, the seller pays accrued taxes. $50.00 a month?

(Sometimes, you'd get answers like, yes my aunt has been thinking of selling her home or yes my sister has a property that hasn't sold for months, the listing is about to expire, sure that lady down the street has a small sign in the window) I did this when I first got licensed to sell real estate in Harford County, I would carry a legal size clip board, a camera hanging from my neck, tape measure and a yellow pencil in hand - I wanted to create curiosity, what's he doing?

Out of curiosity, have you looked at investing locally? 

In order to calculate ROI you should assume the holding period, calculate appreciation and accrued equity and involve Tax consequences.

She seems really motivated and is actually coming from out of state, the property has essentially just been sitting accruing taxes since she purchased it, the next step is for her to show me the property, thank you for the reply Eric ;-)!