The 10K price though seems excessive.

Here are a few things you may want to consider: Common Area Maintenance (CAM), repairs, parking, late fees, taxes, excessive use of CAM, insurance,  utilities, garbage, transfer of ownership  etc.

I have a lot of excess energy to burn off.Keep it Wealthy,Dhane

With all due respect to the non-Texan responses, a $3500 earnest money deposit on a $104,000 house is VERY excessive. 1% of the purchase price is the norm.This tells me that the sellers has been burned by someone backing out of the deal.

There are two different scenarios, leading to two different answers.I the rental property goes vacant for a period of time, the expenses may be in excess of rental income, and the amount in excess of expenses may not be able to be utilized as a deduction in certain circumstances.  

If the property is sold at auction, any excess from the sale would go to you.

is  it better to pay off existing investment mortgages with excess income and then use that equity to fund future down payments on purchases, or conserve cash and pay off investment mortgages as scheduled?

I think it may be fair to say that this excess in supply is being pent up in vacancies with the over built condo markets, such as Toronto's, as is pointed out in the Maclean's article.  

If there are several lending, it becomes more complicated so you should really see an attorney.The loan made simply includes the purchase price, settlement costs and excess amounts would be disbursed to you at settlement.

Moving when renting is trivial, nothing to sell, just give notice and go. 4) Many people think they can't afford a house, so they never try. 5) Some people really can't afford a house, so they rent. 6) Short Term / Temporary Work Assignments7) Irresponsible with money8) Really poor credit or excessive collectionsLots more I'm sure, but it's too late to think too hard.