@Brandon Stevens - Welcome fellow Washingtonian :)

Negotiate an option to purchase at a date in the future at a value based upon today's NOI. 3.

I assume they're are talking about closing dates, not contract dates. 

However I know some bougtique fellows that are not realtors will use their sourcing ability and their rehab ability and bring you a deal at cost with a pretty small mark up  usually less than a sales commish to an outside agency.. so there is that program as well.. need cash for that.. in the old days I used to do the Hardmoney loan to help you buy and rehab but most of us lenders won't do that for newbie or out of state investors anymore risk are to high.But get on line check out all the different companies there are 100's  and there are probably 30 plus viable markets ...

Best part about the past few days was having a real estate agent tell me "That's pretty unusual" about how I wanted the contract changed ( a few dates/ times).  

Hello fellow BiggerPocketeers!

I'm waiting for an appraisal date now.

Is the property dated?

There is no time limit for sending the  notice, but whenever it is sent, the bank has one year from that date to redeem, or the original 3-years set by statute for everybody, whichever is longer.If the tax sale was after the foreclosure, then the bank is treated like any other owner who didn't pay their taxes.Example of overbid and interest cap:  Taxes due are $750. 

Your basis is the FMV on the date of death.