There are a few vacants i came across driving around the last few days that are bank-owned that I would like to investigate.

In the case i saw today the investigation would've necessitated going into the crawl space...and i mean literally crawl space, perhaps a distance of 50 feet to see the full extent of the damage.

I look at it like insurance, I hate paying the money now, but if I ever need it, I will REALLY need it.The salesman gave you valuable information to investigate, but I would seek the advice of your own trusted advisers before acting.There are "kits" to do the LLC yourself, but in my opinion, that is kind of like buying a kit to do your own brain surgery.

A corporate board member investigation could run into the $100k+ range depending on the company.

Expecting a person to investigate every possibility of noise sources is not a requirement to protect a person.

If that is not the city, then the municipal liens being present would be cause to investigate occupancy further.  

The partners wife thought it was a set up and the police investigated it.

This credit union did give me an offer but it is $30K less than what I was applying for based on the income to debt ratio and upon further investigation, it is when I found out that they will not use my rental income despite it being rental not boarder income. 

Is it normal to "over estimate" closing costs for running preliminary numbers?

I declined but will see what happens at auction.Regarding the title questions on this thread, I have a title company I'm working with and they will do preliminary (quick) title searches and provide title insurance.