Also, as the agent I try to make the offer as clean and streamlined as possible and I think it's very important to write your best offer up front in many situations these days to try and avoid bidding wars where you can.  

You take it over vacant so you can renovate, clean up, and place your own tenants at market rate.If tenants need 30 days to vacate, make your closing 45-60 days so the Landlord has extra time to deal with any renter that holds over.

If items are not cleaned or damaged, someone needs to photograph and calculate costs for security deposit deductions.

David Greene just wrote a good book about getting started called "SOLD" and in the BiggerPockets bookstore.

What I know is it’s an absolute tax auction, so all liens will be wiped clean from the property and sold to highest bidder.I am specifically interested in the vacant city lots zoned for single family residential.

Haven't noticed a single bit of difference in either.....I wouldn't worry about it....just be courteous with guests, keep your house clean, Etc....what most people  would normally do anyway.....

students deserve nice places to live. we aren't trying to be slumlords but i do realize that students probably have slightly lower expectations than other types of tenants, so i feel we wont need to break the bank in the level of finishing details like we did on our own home but we will provide housing that is clean and safe and attractive. also thinking we can use some creative materials and methods to make the units party-proof. maybe we get lucky and find some long term professors or grad students and don't have to do annual turnover on every unit. even so, i budgeted 8% for property management after watching david greene's webinar yesterday.the heloc would allow for an easy down payment and a nice buffer for rehab, and i have 750+ credit score and good wage earning history, so i think a conventional loan should not be a problem to obtain. a cash out refi might be an option on the horizon if we decide to really crank a proper rehab but the units (from the pictures i saw) are livable as-is.should i be more specific here on the address/market to get better help?

Read David Green's book on BRRR and understand the approach, but need to decide on a region. 

Read David Green's book on BRRR and understand the approach, but need to decide on a region. 

Their underwriting is pretty strict, so make sure the property is clean and tenants are cooperative.