I'll send over some of my go-to recommendations for the people above. 

I am researching meet up groups here in the Chicagoland but, I am open to connect with others like myself (first-timers) and experienced investors over coffee!

Keep up the good work over there at DM and keep adding new data, it's very helpful!

You need to get over the "getting annoying" part.

I've been estimating for my electrical biz for over 32 years now & I still make plenty of mistakes lol.Just between you & me....we still call em guesstimates lol!

there is no bank, no mortgage, and therefore no due on sale clause.if there is a mortgage in place, and you take the payments over, this is typically referred to as subject-to or sub2 and is much higher risk for everyone involved.

Plenty of houses in the 400k range that sit over 80DOM because low buyer demand, low buyer ability.

Sounds like you are happy with the answers but here is something else to consider: NJ is a judicial foreclosure state so timeline to foreclose is multiple months at a minimum and could even be over a year depending on the tools you have.Is your lender a big institution or a smaller private lender?

That's just life.We had a situation where one tenant had been living at our property for years with several other tenants below them over that time period. 

Have multiple exit strategies, do not be over leveraged, and make sure you are factoring market changes.