One lady even pays rent a week ahead. 

Sounds like the area is rent growth and an appreciation type play.The seller is likely looking for a buyer willing to gamble or a foreign investor that doesn't mind hardly any cash flow just to get funds into the states here.

I received a knock at the door, it was a young lady who said she represented a developer.

I have an appointment with a tax lady tomorrow, but she pretends to be too busy for me 99% of the time as well. 

He's taking a huge gamble with me and only has the resources to survive around 6 months.My plan is to do everything I absolutely can do right now, and then move down about 2 months before my partner is ready to move down.

I would rent to this lady and end up with a biker gang in there before I knew what hit me  :)I would think it depends on the what the crime was...

I moved into a small rental of mine to save money for a couple years and had to let a lady go.

Two years ago i came across a lady whose father had just passed and she wanted to go back to her home country.

However after speaking with a few succesful investors and 2 very cool succesful lenders everyone has advised me to not gamble with my money at first and invest in a rental primarily a MFU using a fha loan.  

Check out "The Retirement Gamble" video that aired on PBS a few years ago, it may still be on Youtube.