(Bought the house and made a 20k flip profit)Public records are amazing: if you locate the area where the seller lives, make sure you look them up in their counties property appraiser, and clerk of court/register of deeds.

I am looking for my next purchase at the court house steps, while I am working on a few more. 

Court clerks are archivists.

@Bill Gulley  EM Notes used to be the rule in Oregon... coming from CA to Oregon 20 years ago I had never seen them.. in CA it was cash on the barrel head... and not 10 dollars more like 10,000.but we know Bay Area is an anomaly of high priced RE .what I like about the EM note wholesalers can use.. is if they flake out the seller can simply take them to small claims court and get a judgement based on that EM note... 

I've driven by the property a few times since I started the process with the court and last week an unknown vehicle appeared on the property.

It is my understanding according to dodd frank of you go through a rmlo underwriting an owner occupant bier you have a safe haven from being sued n federal court from a seller saying that the buyer was not properly underwritten as per the Ability to Repay Rule.

And you have to win in court first.

I heard that in Ohio, the courts will not allow a house in probate to be sold for less than 80% of appraised value provided by a court appointed appraiser?

The lease will terminate and the tenant can be evicted by the courts for good cause. ** This one means you'll have an agent trying to show the house to buyers while it's occupied, including buyer's agents being stuck having to plan far ahead to get permission from the tenant to view the property.

Normal rates are around 2.5-2.8% but it's a little higher when you declare it's for an investment property.