As a courtesy, you can consider writing him a letter informing him that beginning next month you will be enforcing your lease and spell out the section that specifics what his obligations are and I suggest that you start communicating with him via electronic mail from here on in.Prepare to file a notice to pay rent or quit as soon as it applies and proceed with an unlawful detainer.

As we walked through the property, we noticed that this "duplex" was indeed built as a four-plex.

Sometimes it's best to keep in the original owner's name because the insurance is often cheaper if they've owned it for a while with no claims.Regarding paying him off when the balloon is due, I think the most common approach would be to get long term financing and pay your uncle off. 

I noticed that feature on the BP Website thank you taking the time out to respond.

This is fairly common in investments where there are service partners and capital investors. 

We just had some prospective tenants turn in applications and they said “non-smokers” on the application, but I noticed they smelled strongly of smoke and even their applications (the paper!)

Unexpected cash calls, short occupancy periods, higher and higher turnover costs are very common when investing out of state - especially when the buyer is looking for higher cash flow.Cash flow is a calculation.  

Online... is a long and tedious process :) but if done consistently can be a great supplementary way of getting other folks to notice you and wanting to work with you...You just have to be honest, and even if you are a tire kicker and the newbie, as long as you present your journey showing who you are and where you are coming from and why you are thinking the way you are thinking then folks will learn to trust you, believe you and connect with you, which may or may not of course result in you get the right agent in your local area.Remember what may seem tire kicking to some, and means business as usual.... to you it's the entire life savings... type of decision...  

I started getting appointments, but one thing I noticed when I would go on these appointments were, that: A) when I would get an appt, I would be excited. 

Took him 1.5 years to close on a property.If you are looking for a fixer-upper it is somewhat common to get a price reduction.