Every three or six months there's magically a seasoned 25% down plus needed PITI reserves, ready for the next purchase, sitting in a plain old boring Wells Fargo checking account without a lot of activity on those two months of bank statements I ask for.They write offers that end in 888, or want me to tweak their loan amount down so the base loan amount is $XXX,888.

I'm sure we'll sign a promissory note, but who writes that up?

(ie.. the doors open, the windows work, the furnace works, and smoke alarms are functional with 10yr batteries).  

Should I write a letter and mail it to the house hoping they have relatives who will read it. 

Also, get everything in writing....Verbal agreements are as good as the paper they're written on :)

I even write my own very effective 3 page hand written yellow letters...and have done a few for a couple other wholesalers :) I have to say I love everything about REI and writing my own ebooks about topics pertaining to real estate...

We could probably write a book on what happened after the tax lien was bought!

In terms of tax consequences it's pretty even provided your rentals are producing enough income for you to write off the interest in the current year and not have to carry it forward.  

My bank will not provide a loan without verification that all the utilities in the given property are functional.

@Billy GullettI recommend that you make the place functional / stylish / comparable to other rentals in the area on as small of a budget as possible.