Because they will get defensive if they feel you are pressuring them.

Feel free to contact me if you need EMD for the A to B side of a transaction. 

For the house to be vacant for almost a year, I think she must not be well or be under some kind of stress, so I feel like by coming in and offering the right kind of deal, I would be benefitting her and myself at the same time.How would you guys approach this situation?

Feel free to reach out if I can be of any assistance.

And then sell your current primary - take that money tax free to pay for college. 

Feel free to network with Todd or other members via other threads, or other parts of the site.

If you purchased from the party who purchased at the tax sale you probably would have received a SWD because the Grantor would not have wanted to warrant anything other than the Grantor's actions.While I'd be surprised if a county employee opined on the status of your title, there may be a difference between having a clear title (one without a current challenge) and insurable title (one free of significant possible risk of being challenge in the future). 

You're not going to walk away exclusively with feelings of pain or pleasure as-in feeling like you "paid for nothing" or "overpaid" if no defects in the sewer line are found OR feelings of "it was worth every penny" or "thank god I had it done" if defects were found. 

I feel like I am being lied to or manipulated for being young.

Feel" the true beat of the portfolio's income and expenses performance before using leverage to speed up the growth of your portfolio.Using cash only will protect your bottom line in scenario's like yours when the properties don't perform as expected as you won't be on the hook to cover the mortgage expenses.Just my bias opinion so take it with a grain of salt.I've also witnessed many finger pointing instances when others get involved.Like a new property manager, realtor, contractor, etc...I've had my share of bad experiences with realtors that threw my company under the bus and got in the investors ear to flog it at any price just so they can make a quick commission.It get's very messy, painful and pretty much turns into a disaster with the investor not knowing who to trust or what to do anymore.Similar to what you post about has happened to me and my company many times and if allowed the opportunity, we do our best to fix and come good.Some loose trust and faith and I 100% understand, but as soon as someone leaves the wing of my company there is not much that we can do because as I mentioned above, everyone else get's involved, has an opinion and the situation get's very messy.Having in-house property management is vital when such a "crisis" arises.I tried out-sourced PM when we first started and it was a disaster.We had no choice other than to bring it in-house.Hated my life for the first 5 years with in-house PM and fast forward 10 years, it has become our "golden goose" and a very well streamlined and beautiful business.From what I've seen and read on the forum and elsewhere it seems like RTR has a good reputation and what you have mentioned seems like a "worst case scenario".I hope RTR will assist you the best they can and all I can say is learn from the experience and don't give up.Do your best to weather the storm and focus on minutia.Don't have regrets and don't spend too much time dwelling on the past.Glimpse into the past to get guidance from what you could have done better and think ahead.Move forward smarter, more experienced and better.Wishing you well and much success with your future endeavors.