I'm currently looking for my next rental property in Suffolk County NY.  

It changes county to county how landlord-friendly it is, but overall Iowa is quite landlord friendly. it does come down to how strong your lease is and how good your property management company is as well.

I am looking at a vacant property in my target neighborhood and from what county records indicate, the subject property has been used as collateral for the owner to purchase their primary residence. 

I also do not have access to any lien/mortgage release documents in my county without doing a full blown paid title search.

I just started the process a few weeks back of becoming a wholesaler but not necessarily in my marketplace (live in Orange County, Ca) wha are some of the best ways to start wholesaling in other markets?

I'll flip anywhere that I can reach within an hour - Including: Queens, BK, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

No title insurance seems like a red flag they should have gotten something from the county clearing title. 

By the way, the rental is located in Orange County, California.Thanks again.

I have been looking at county records to find leads and my question is how do I know if the record is still current and active?

I could HI Kevin,This transition that you're asking about above is extremely important to transition smoothly and plan for because it will ensure your subsequent VA use for additonal purchases.Once the current property is refinanced with a non VA loan this will free up your entitlement for additional use.The max conv limit in Ventura county Ca is 672,750 and the max loan limits for a high balance loan can go up to 95%.So what this means is theoretically you could refinance up to 672,750 loan amount with an appraisal as low as 708,158 dollars or higher before your loan is subject to jumbo/non conventional guidelines (much tougher to qualify for and has lower LTV's).The VA loan has some key features that other loans dont have:- a trade off of no monthly PMI but the upfront PMI is huge, equivalent to 2.15 - 3.30 Points (borderline hard money points).