My objective is to buy and hold for the next 10 - 15 years (my timeline is short).  

I would also bet that if the investor is buying all cash that his risk profile / tolerance is lower o/w he would be including leverage and hence, appreciation is nice to have but not the main objective.  

I'm going to paraphrase here:"COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS LAND COURT DEPARTMENT OF THE TRIAL COURTORDER OF NOTICE TO: (Previous owner's name), and to all persons entitled to the benefit of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act; Wells Fargo Bank...Asset-Backed Pass-Through Certificates...claiming to have interest in a mortgage covering real property at (address), given by: (name) to (mortgage company) dated May 2005...and now held by Plaintiff by assignment, has/have filed with this court a complaint for determination of defendants service members status...If you object to the foreclosure of the property above then you or your attorney must file a written appearance and answer this before OCT 31, 2016 or you will be forever barred from claiming that you are entitled to the benefits of said Act"Now, forgive me for my ignorance, but is this just a foreclosure notice?

It depends on your goal and objectives.

It wasn't clear what the objection to PL's was other than you seemed to think a deeper discount means a better deal.  

When acquiring these old gems, or objective is to improve their energy efficiency by a minimum of 50% (40% on newer, post War houses) while updating the building to provide modern, healthy living spaces for our tenants.  

One of my objectives is to avoid situations where the likelihood of being sued goes up significantly and then the likelihood of loosing is above normal (I realize I can't avoid everything unless I do nothing, think woman with hot coffee and McD's).

I am also very interested in understanding if the above can be done in states where I do not reside because the economics in the state that I do live in (NJ) are not good in accomplishing the above objective.

Don't succumb to shiny object syndrome and go after everything and succeed at nothing.

My objective is to become known and, most importantly, trusted by these people.