Best wishes to you on your desire to soon become an investor yourself.  

I agree that the northern part of the city is relatively desirable with better school districts and newer housing, but areas near UOP are also charming and worth considering. - Matt

Should I try to convince the county with documentation to show the low price paid (to help support a low appraisal for RE tax purposes), or is it to my advantage to keep the sales price at $0 and keep future owners guessing that it might be worth much more (which it could become once I have lived in it a while and made it more desirable).  

Generally 26-28 months for a desirable property.  

There are a lot of variables, of course.The next argument in favor of starting out this way is to give you a chance to groom your skills as property manager, if desired, and develop and improve systems for easy management.

I understand the 2/1 is not a desirable floor plan to start with, but wanted to educate myself on an objective way of analyzing such deals the way an appraiser would.

I can only see that 5 years from now in even the most ideal Euro retaining scenario would look like a sad purgatory with little hope on the horizon.I'm not particularly familiar with the political side of the desire to keep Greece in the Euro other than the simple Europe v.

As far as the HELOC, banks do these loans hoping to collect interest for a number of years to come; since the property is listed for sale, the loan duration will be brief so not as much interest will be collected - so not really desirable for the bank. 

It's vacant, homeowner probably does not have the capacity or desire to fix/rent it. and would like to wash their hands of it for the amount of the loans.  

Landis,Does that apartment building going in next to your potential property have any effect on your desire to purchase the property?