Ask them for the sales contract in your state, and how to execute the contract properly - to be signed by the both you and the sellers.The title company and your attorney will take care of the rest.In regards to finding out if he/she is the real owner, you can check the county records for their names to the property.

Something we haven't seen a lot of, that I 100% fully expected to see, was certain 2005-2007 mortgages blowing up in people's faces, causing large amounts of distressed sales. 

The neighborhood isn't the best, so I'm trying to decide if I should 1031 it into a better property in a better neighborhood for my family and I to move to or use my savings to acquire another home to live in.

Typical minimum is 1% rent to sales price so if you paid 163,000 you want to see 1,630 a month rent.

@Jay Hinrichs I am working with my mentor to begin acquiring local properties, I will be following his BRRR methods and be crushing it like him soon.  

Some might have moved out of the area, and others might be an estate sale or they could own from out of town.    

This is less than what I'm willing to accept normally, but the owner has indicated he would do a "no money down" deal with 2 year option, and a sale price of $56,000.

Before the crash of 2008 there were over 1 million licensed agents who averaged 2 sales/year.

The lender will strictly go by the appraisal, which is done with comparable sales or the cost to build a similar house.

It's a conversation not a sales call.