Its great to see that you dont let your personal circumstances prevent you from trying to improve yourself.

Baltimore has a huge sale every year and I noticed that many of the liens are have very high taxes versus the value of the property.

"A rising tide lift all boats" - by supporting others we improve our own situation.My $0.02...David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

It's very nerve wracking to think, us as a household that makes roughly 35,000/year will have to pay back 15,000.Originally enacted in 2007, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act allows debt forgiveness of up to $2 million to NOT be considered taxable income if: The house has been used as the principal place of residence for at least two of the previous five years.The debt has been used to buy, build, or make substantial improvements to the home.

If you go in and make a ton of improvements, you may or may not get that money back.  

I believe its easier to lose short term versus long term, long term allows you to pay down the principle and hopefully expect some appreciation, i think the final goal should be to have properties free and clear some day, if you buy right and hold the property, manage it well, i see it hard to lose money over a 10+ year term doing the buy and hold scenario, on the other hand you can easily lose money buying and selling several homes yearly.  

My business partner and I are trying to invest in 4 plexes around our city and want to be able to have a good draw to rent from us versus the larger and newer apartments in the area.

Our thought is that by buying rental properties, and improving our portfolio we will have a lot better borrowing power.

I don't want to be rude, but I have to learn to cut them off politely.I thought may be having it on the MLS might improve the odds of finding a more "decent" long term tenant?

You see the FCRA is a federal law passed and amended to improve the quality and accuracy of background checks while protecting the privacy and civil rights of all parties.