I am just curious, at this stage, to see if he's going to make me ANY money by December.

I would actively look at the broker/local investor route as it is easier and helps you be more efficient esp. at this stage of the RE cycle where everyone is demanding more than what their property is worth.

Then you need to be able to bring your cashiers check to the foreclosure trustee usually the day before the sale or make arrangements with the trustee that will allow you to hand it to the sale cryer but that can have some risks.

At some stage you will need a team.  

Whether you have a friend/family member, property manager, cleaner, or someone else, I would arrange with them to receive your shipments.

We finally had it, called her directly, and agreed on a Deed in Lieu/Cash for Keys arrangement in less than a week.

They have a special 'pooling' arrangement with the banks so that each bank does not need to spend the money to send their own attorney to cover the auction.3.  

If this is true then the LLC you suggest would suffice for this type of arrangement I assume.The family investor I am referring to does have successful experience with renting one SFH and selling.

It is likely the seller and tenant are both aware that their current arrangement is coming to an end.

There's a nice template that helps you manage your investor friends as they move through different stages of investments. https://blog.trello.com/how-to-manage-a-killer-sal...