To a landlord of residential properties holding a house is simply holding inventory and inventory should be able to be moved and replaced to grow any business.An airport can change flight paths, bus routes can be changed, traffic patterns can change that increase traffic or make access more difficult, nearby zoning changes effect surrounding properties, there is an endless list of obsolescence factors that effect a residential property that can not be controlled.

A double close is simply purchasing a property and then quickly turning around and selling that same property.

Often REO listing agents are simply too busy to answer their phone or respond to email and if they do they may simply refer you to another agent to make the offer.Once you have some experience under your belt you may be able to get on an REO Broker's call list and you can hear about and be ready to make offers before some listings even hit the market.I hope that helps.

We simply approached him and he's interested in moving here and renting this property. 

Do you know of any lender that will lend on properties that need work, in my area most cash buyers win out.

As far as making sure you are not getting ripped off I would simply request that you get a copy of every rental agreement.

In this case, you get to keep all the profit (which will be taxable) and simply make back the payments back to your 401(k).

Title is NOT automatically cleared, the tax lien is simply in first position so you can probably recover your investment when that happens, but the mortgage liens are NOT.

You then have to go to small claims court and win a judgment and then try to collect.

Ultimately, if it's simply a buy-and-hold investment, the area shouldn't matter too much, except that I want the right amount of stable growth coupled with consistent job growth.