Have made some real estate investments over time.

Then the judgment would need to attach to the property and then you can foreclose.Issues that could come up are I assume there is no third party servicer to claim the payments were or were not made- so there is a he said she said - if they also occupy the property and statements were not sent you cannot charge interest typically on the loan.You will need an attorney involved to see what if it is still collectible.

The seller will not push back the closing date in order to do the repairs before closing.

However, we still had a lot to learn in order to be successful in the space. 

He has made it clear he will not owner finance. are there other options for to minimize capital gains tax and in order to make this deal more beneficial to all?

I just wasn't sure based on your wording you hadn't made it clear if those were bad or good examples since being by a train track could mean close to transit/train station and that could be a good thing, just was confusing that's all.Thank you 

They are impacted more from it since they depend on the market going up in order to refi. 

I own one on an agreement for sale/executory contract, but that was to help a veteran family that was active military where the deal made sense and everyone had good credit worthiness. 

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Once I found Tax Deeds and I got title immediately, I made buying tax lien certificates secondary.Now I still work both, but focus now on getting land at the Tax Deed auctions and placing tiny homes on them.