In Florida you would be responsible for the entire amount of back dues as a 3rd party bidder.  

FHA defines the resale date as the date of execution of the sales contract by all parties intending to finance the Property with an FHA-insured Mortgage.”

We finished the interior renovation and cleaned up the exterior for the most part. I

Buy a Keg of beer and have a fence building party.

@Alison Kovac If it would assess at 225k you should be able to cash out refi it after 6 months and pull at least 157k(being conservative and leaving 30%/67k in the property; you can probably do 20 or 25%) back out -- using the same 30% down on the smaller townhome means you pull out 97k(leaving 41k in the property) so your actual out of pocket cost difference between the two is only ~25k.

Granted these expenses will be much less out-of-pocket than hiring a third party, but having a percentage for property management in your budget will make sure they are covered.

There is no perfect science, but making sure you approach the deal with a skeptical / conservative eye is important.

Furthermore, Purchaser indemnifies Broker and owner against any commission claims by brokers other than stated above.NAIReceiving Party represents that it is a principal and will not look to the Disclosing Party for any fee, commission or other compensation relating to the Assets.

Make sure your contract states that keeping the earnest money is the other party's sole remedy and not specific performance.

Friction during the investment process is a bad thing and I am not sure that most accredited investors will ever be very fond of turning over their financial information or having third parties speak to their advisors about their financial situation.