I have a steady income of about $2000 a month after paying all bills, rent and covering food expenses, while be frugal.

I would prefer to buy the property for around $30k, so we'll see what happens with that.

I get the idea that the 150k payback delay is not going to make you eat cat food :-)Hopefully he does make it right when he can and does his best to repair the breach that this situation has created.

I personally prefer to work with local lenders that underwrite their own loans because they have more flexibility.

Maybe other cities are different, but my guess is they prefer to work with one city versus a hundred property owners.

Most Americans at the time shifted their preference from owning to renting because they were either burned by home ownership, their credit was impaired and couldn't qualify for a mortgage, or they just couldn't afford a home given the weak economy. 

Rehab it to market trends, not your personal preferences.

Does anyone have any recommendations of attorneys that are familiar with assignments in CT (Hartford County preferably)

I gave him a list of inspectors to choose from, including my preferred-but-expensive inspector, along with recommendations from other agent friends.He chose someone other than my preferred guy, who turned out to be a total dud.

My preferred strategy is BRRRR (I know, so original haha).