In this scenario -- they will make 52 payments of $250 a year, or a total of $13,000 (one extra rent payment).But, the implication of doing that seems rather unethical to me, unless you are letting them know you up front you are penalizing them for paying rent in that fashion.  

Total home sales volume was up 21% with $337 million recorded compared to $279 million last August.Through the first eight months of this year, the number of home sales recorded are up 10%, average home sales prices are up 4%, and total home sales revenue is up 14% from the same period in 2016.

Even if I owner occupied, loans like FHA and VA are out because of the total amount.Your comments are much appreciated.

I would suggest looking online to see what's in your area for rent currently though so you can get an idea for the price point and quality of upgrades people expect.

A lot of the articles i read online made it seem as simple as, if you have leftover, use it! 

Those are two totally different animals- different workloads, different results, different risk factors, etc.

Total newb to auctions, so forgive the dumb questions. 

That is totally up to you.  

Plus most agents are completely unorganized, don't return calls/emails etc. and finding a reliable one in some remote corner of the US isn't worth it to me.The only time I make an exception to this is when I'm researching the property online (zillow, trulia, redfin etc) and while looking at other properties in the neighborhood I see an agent that sold something similar fairly recently.

You can find all of the lists you want online and the forums:  cash-flow, appreciation, quality of life, job growth, etc.