Is there a way for us to suggest that the tenant can break their lease without us getting stuck covering the payments?

I'm purchasing a property and taking over the tenant who is currently in a month to month lease, always behind in payments, does not live in the property, but does state in the lease agreement he can store stuff at the property.

What I would receive if he paid me off,  NOT the lifetime (20 years) of the $1150/mo payment.  

If just the down payment, do you have the primary lending lined up?

Is the 1% computed on the asking price or is it calculated on asking price minus down payment?

you would be changing mortgage payments from roughly $955 to $1432, another $477. with taxes and other expenses, could a buyer make enough money renting it to be worth buying the property for the extra 100K

They owe the rent payments to you since you now own the property.

I have about ~40K equity in the rental and owe about $157K on the loan, but the monthly rental income only covers the mortgage payment + insurance + taxes + an additional $75 a month, which I put aside for repairs and anything that may come up.  

Even if you had 20-30, you would receive the bill, log in to your bank, set up the payment- done.

The borrower/ owner is MIA this is not the first time this has happened but he usually contacts me and gets his payment up to date.