@Thomas ClarkAs a House hacker myself I agree with you!

Thank you both : )Matt - For a foreigner it is very hard to choose an area, especially in a country that New York alone is bigger than my own country LOLIf for example I want to choose an area in my country, it will still be easier even if I'm not familiar with real estate and even if I didn't visit it all (I didn't see most of my country :) ), because I know the language, the people, the rules (!!)

I agree with @Rick H. there is definitely someone with some interest in the property paying the taxes.

I then ran it by an agent who said the seller does not have to as long as that is part of the agreed upon terms.

I have a local lender who has agreed to loan $250,000, 5.25%, 20 years amortization with a 10 year balloon and 1 point origination.

While I do agree with him on a lot of things, such as not generating debt on rentals, have them paid off.  

@Jordan Redar I totally agree.

I agree with Tony -- the 1% is my usual rule.  

I'll agree with some of the above - refinishing/reglazing is the way to go.

If I'm the note buyer (in this example) then I could do what's called a loan modification with this person and agree to take past due amount and move it to the back of the loan, restructure payments so that current owner of condo can afford it.