Really appreciate the straight forward help. 

The first thing I would recommend is find an agent whom you respect and have them write all your policies so they understand your situation well, can find products that fit well together and can maximize any discounts you may be entitled too. 

Once it is an REO are lenders generally pretty firm on sales price, since they need to get back what was owed to them, or at some point are they willing to take a discounted price in order to get it off of their books?

Great board.Maryland taxes are fairly straight forward. 

Should i start with 3 unit or 4 unit buildings and grow from there, or should i start straight away with commercial residential real estate and look at much bigger buildings (even apartment complexes)?

Thats straight off BP rental calculator so shouldn't add-up though I didn't run it manually to verify. 20% down would be $34k on the $170k loan, using 50% rule that'd be a 14% CoC (34000/4656).

Me and my wife cant decide on going with diagonal  vs straight wood floor.

For cash buying (wholesaling), high % equity is super important - otherwise they cannot accept your discounted offer - and you will fail trying to negotiate directly with banks unless you know that world and have proof of funds, etc.Forget foreclosure as motivator - you'd be better off looking at % equity (minimum 40%) combined with other motivators such as:1) absentee owner ("tired landlord" & "2 house payment" profiles)2) probate/estate sale3) divorce4) code violations

Like Jim said the #2 strategy can get it sold and if your place is attractive enough could get it in a bidding war.As long as you are happy for selling it for whatever the normal discount off of list is then this is the best idea to move the place.  

@Adam Valenta  Per the law, the seller must have fee simple title, so you couldn't do a SLO, but you can do assignments or just straight lease options.