At the very least, I think you've discovered one county that is definitely a "miss".

And listen to the podcasts if you have not yet discovered them.

Massive pest issues because of prior LL, I've even had a prior LL have the tenants sign a document when they moved in that the unit was clean of pests and that the LL would not be responsible for any removal (seems great in theory but not really legal in this application).  

Secondly, I hope investing could us prepare for retirement.I discovered BiggerPockets through searching iTunes for podcasts that talk about real estate, business and personal finance.

I'm in a similar situation myself with a buyout proppsition from a LL.

I've pretty much decided from this point forward I'll never pay retail for a property again :-) Just discovered BP and the podcast in the last few months and have been blown away by the wealth of information and camaraderie here!

As you will discover there is a lot of ways to self fund these "dreams".

The risk of it being discovered and called due and payable immediately is way too high.

In addition to the forum that you have already discovered.

As you've already discovered, it's a great site with tons of resources.