Poker players call it rat holing.Everyone of your choices is incredibly valid and incredibly wrong depending on the market.  10 years is probably way into another market. 

His exit strategy is longer-term buy&hold.The goal is to structure a deal where we perform owner financing on a property that has a backing mortgage.I haven't talked to the lender about it, but was curious about whether, in this case, that was even possible.I believe our vibrant community here can provide useful perspectives, and thanks in advance

Best way to verify a heat exchanger crack is by performing a combustion analysis, you can only visibly see a portion of a heat exchanger.

Otherwise you can find you lose EMD by failing to perform an action. 

Never take any numbers from a seller with much weight, always perform all your own due diligence in order to make a smart move.  

I know there are some Property Management Software out there that have the built in ability to perform tenant screening, but I am a beginning investor that is not looking to invest in an expensive software. 

this is not a service dog. its an emotion support dog. service dogs are trained to perform specific functions. emotional support dogs just exist for companionship, and while they serve medical purposes, are very often fake. you are not allowed to deny this tenant based solely on the animal, but you are allowed to ask for certain verifications. you also, only have to make "reasonable" accommodation to accomodate his "medical device" I imagine you have an argument to evict if the dog is attacking people.

@Sean CarrollIf one flips real estate and performs the work, then it may qualify as a self-employed business which would allow you to open a solo 401k plan.

I would perform a test during due diligence to see if it is working properly, and if it isn't calculate the cost to repair and demand as a credit at closing.Make sure you build in the cost of pumping.  

You want to quickly purchase enough properties that your performing properties help carry your non performing properties.