According to our contract, he was to be paid in phases until the completion of work.

Before getting your first deal you all need to get pre approved.

There is a slightly higher premium paid but sellers tend to charge way to much for it. 

*search this site using key word "house hack"5-why wouldn't you pull the equity from your house ( or leverage your house) and just by a rental property(paid off in 15 yrs by tenants, building equity for further acquisitions, future appreciation AND sale ) where the numbers will give you a specific profit, and you can retain your anonymity and personal space as a LL?

The property is in Texas and I've never purchased a pre-foreclosure that is only a couple weeks away from being auctioned off.

I pay less than a hundred for my 11 year old, paid up in 20 years with USAA.

Neighbor said the owner passed away and now nobody has paid taxes.

I just wanted to get some advice here...I paid off my home mortgage this month and am now ready to invest in another property for rental income. 

So it's so important to pre-screen tenants from all angles.

I will caution you that many will say yes, but ask for a pre-approval letter from them and pound into their head that you are out of state.