You are correct, anything below 750 sqft will be your best bet.

But still, I was wondering how safe that number really is?

Biggest lesson- I guess I played it safe and was in a hurry to land my first deal, so I bought a property only 4% under appraised value and because of this, I have all my capital sitting in the deal until it makes sense to refi out. 

ConclusionNo matter what your goal, whether selling quick or selling for maximum value, listing in March seems to be the best bet.

That's why we, and I'll bet you as well, will never wire funds anywhere at any time without a contract for purchase in our files to serve as an identification. 

In fact, after all the time, effort & money you'll have into it, I'd bet on you having a hard time letting it go.

A title company would be best bet to go through or you can call the country to find liens.the county does have a few sites that are useful in researching properties. country recorder (you can search for liens here, but if they are very recent they may not show)http://www.lcrecorder.com/reco...you can also call or email the recorder, contact info is here:https://www.lakecountyin.org/p...there is also the assessor site:http://counties.xsoftin.com/la...

The prices are good there so I know it is a safe bet, but I may want to diversify into other markets.

It seems like hard money is your best bet if you can qualify for a regular loan after I don’t see why not.

For example, if the accessed value is $400K (a real possibility if it has been owed since the 1970s), the prop taxes will be less than $5K/year (prop tax is safe to assume no more than 1.25% of accessed value (there may be somewhere in the state that is higher than this but this is safe percent to use)).So you may want to determine the property tax due before worrying too much on if they have to be paid prior to assets being dispersed as there will be numerous other bills that will need to be paid prior to the assets being dispersed (utilities, gardeners, etc.).Good luck