Lenders do vary; but typically you will find lenders that will loan 70% and will do so after the property has seasoned 6 months.

That would be located at the county Viatal Statistics department.Whomever filled it out (relative, sibling, son, daughter, etc.) will be your first point of contact or if you since you know of the owner's name check to see if a probate case has been filed.Probate laws vary from state to state and my understanding is the property is going to have to go through the court probate process.

I personally would never pay them but fees vary by market.$395 renewal fee - My market does not have renewal fees. 

Rates will vary on the higher side as well, but it still allows you to get the home. 

The amount of data you can get varies by county, but usually you get get the owner and their address and tax information as well as the last sale date and cost. 

Especially since three different agencies quoted the "same" Safeco policies but came in at very different prices.To show how much it can vary, on one property in Fort Worth, Ft Worth Ins quoted $591 and the highest quote was $1121 per year, almost double, and that was not unique - it happened with several. 

That will vary wildly on the lender, the deal, your credit and your experience.

This is news to me as well, and when researching this, I found information stating "The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on a HomeStyle mortgage varies by property type, but it’s typically 97% for a one-unit, principal residence with a fixed-rate mortgage.

The one thing I am in disagreement is wth regards to location based pricing , that is common in most service businessesBut somethings that tend to be over hyped commonly here are - that costs vary crazily depending on location , Ofcourse there are extremes in anything , but most of the numbers in your quotes cannot be attributed to just location based costs. 

The length of time required to establish residency varies from city to city and state to state but you will want to nail down this length of time incase you have a renter who decides not to leave when their 30+ day stay is over.