Bob If there's a good amount of equity in the property, I 100% have seen cases where it looks to me a LOT like an opportunistic HML has initiated foreclosure proceedings b/c someone moved in and there was some other (real or imagined) pretext to do so. 

And that's when they were being foreclosed on for not paying...could you imagine the public backlash if a lender starting foreclosing on people that were paying on time?  

Imagine a lot of the rules apply nationally for bank lending.

I have a hard time imagining that the numbers will pencil out.

I imagine that this business or any new business wouldn't work well without spousal support.

I would imagine this to be the same almost everywhere.

I imagine the lot itself only cost a few thousand, and a chain link fence is an easy DIY project. 

I imagine this repair will cost you 100-200 dollars at a minimum.That quickly eats your cash flow.

As you can imagine, they were not.

Local law or most likely bull crap.I can't imagine any reason why an HVAC system can't be repaired with used parts.