Well with pex water lines you can probably do those yourself if you had to... very easy and one or two hours of work with mostly basic tools.

The owners sold it because they weren't getting paid either. 

We did another house a few blocks away on the river and it sold for 515K at 1500 sq. ft. 

Sold for a huge profit though.The way I see it, operations matter a lot (tenant selection and management).

Conventional buyers would be running.Be sure to comp this house with other homes that have sold after having extensive foundation work.If 159,00 is absulutely no problem then your idea to wholesale, in my opinion, is safest.  

A land trust may still be useful to you for providing anonymity in the future, but you're definitely going to want to speak to an attorney who is familiar with your situation and these legal tools.

You can call the apartment building or send mail to the owner's mailing address or call the agent who sold it. 

And  use the BP analyzing tools, they are amazing.

They are paid a return (and eventually their principal back) via cash flow and/or from the sales proceeds when the property is sold. 

I'm guessing that I'll need different finance strategies in my tool chest to help with scaling once I get my first properties going (or maybe even for these too).