I think you can (depending on your state) include a "confession of judgement" clause whereby if he does not stick to the payment plan you can record the IOU as a general lien against him the same as if you went to court. 

Have title company to record mortgage and sign mortgage note during that time.

You do use an address for where to return the deed after recording.

I believe the HOA was the plaintiff in this case.In my case, the house that I want to purchase also has a lien/first mortgage from what I can tell (I researched the county recorder's records) to find the plaintiff's assignment that is taking this to auction.

I know that when an investor wants to sell a property to a buyer who is getting an FHA loan that the investor must be the owner of record for a minimum of 90 days, and cannot sell it until Day 91.

I can do my own deeds and record them.not sure why you need an attorney.. 

I am stuck on how to apply the existing credit, without it being recorded as another deposit.

I am of belief only if the tax lien is recorded in prothonotary would it encumber other real estate.

I'm not sure the best place to start in the area, I have several buy and holds in other markets but I like to travel to LA and the appreciation is interesting (though with markets softening I'm projecting overall negative appreciation over the next few years). 

We could even target the mortgage more aggressively (if we wanted to), and then in a few years sell the home and still collect what's left of that equity with no debt at that time (except perhaps a new mortgage for a new home, but even that's unlikely because we'll be traveling too much as a family to justify it).