new paint, upgrade bathroom vanities, upgrade laundry room, fix this, fix that, etc...the sale price is going to govern our budget for our next house. 

And you make sure the temps in the coldest part of the house with pipes does not get to freezing.Working heat is also something to be aware of with tenants who may get heat turned off for non pay...

Toward the end of the loan process i was notified the loan was dead since I had not owned the house in my personal name for the last 6mo.I was able to find non-goverment backed loans for this but only at a 15 yr term. 

Hopefully, others will have some (other) "bright ideas" for you to escape this mess, because living in a non-income-producing property, and buying more non-income-producing property, is not an ideal start!

Our firm has retained them for some non-bio hazard cleanup... but I do know that's a service they offer. 

@John Bruccoliere This will depend on your state, In California where I'm originally from, a non-licensee can collect a "Referral or Finders fee" for the introduction.

I think if they have been smoking in the unit for 4 years the chances of them fully complying with a new "non-smoking" policy are virtually zero. 

@Lumi Ispas  I think the reality of wholesaling out of state unless you have a very large amount of money for marketing is a non starter.. that's why I suggested buying a 1k house.. at least in the first 10 minutes of Cody looking at the internet he could find a house he could buy.. ( don't waste money on postage and such) and then he can use whatever resale techniques he has learned from others here on PB and resell for say 2 or 3k... and make some money.. without costing him more than his time..

If you rip it out yourself and paint, install a runner or non slip treads.

That is typically a non-motivated greedy seller.