We started drying out the area right away.  

You seem conflicted on how you are going to treat your tenants .On the one hand you want to be a nice guy and let them change terms of agreements on the other hand you want to take their security deposits I suggest you treat you rentals as a business cut and dry you can be fair and honest with people with out ripping them off or shortchanging yourself.READ over your leases and the state laws If your are honest and firm with your tenants you will sleep better at night. 

Having a DBA name would also allow me to distribute any excess leads to other agents within my network all while under my umbrella.

Depressing to hear that the money has really dried up big time for REI but also interesting.

They are simply released at the time of sale and can be applied against any income, including W2 income, as @Steven Hamilton II explained.However, I'm not sure what Steven meant with his #2 point about the excess depreciation when he said "2.

Original owner was getting sick and let the property deteriorate)...Ideally I would like to open the walls, too and dry-wall from scratch - there is the old house smell and most importantly I would like to make sure whats behind the walls looks kosher.And I would also need to fill the in-ground pool cause its deteriorated to the point of no return.Any ideas as to how quickly rough-estimate this rehab?

In some jurisdictions, a sale for a smaller amount is invalid.In the event that the land is sold at the tax sale for a price that exceeds the amount owed, the sale might be valid, depending upon the state; however, the excess must be given to the delinquent taxpayer.BuyerAny individual who is not disqualified by statute may purchase land at a tax sale provided he or she is the highest bidder.

I would totally agree with you that "shameless self promotion" should be eliminated, and of course, links to sales pages, et. al. should be deleted.But when your staff says "we don't want you to mention "Google"", then I think that is a bit excessive. 

The main reason for a double escrow is to hide your profit in the deal because it appears excessive and that is a good reason because if you think it is excessive it"s likely the seller is going to feel the same way too. 

"Live in condition" means not even a needed interior paint job in my area, let alone dry wall damage.