It eliminated achy shoulders, necks and hips for us.

With a bankruptcy again you will not likely lose principal but a judge could reduce or eliminate your interest.

I'm not sure I understand the need to eliminate a custodian.  

I know people want to eliminate as many costs as possible and dealing with brokers can be costly at times.

Enter and extinguish/eliminate any chances of a spark or flame. 

home: I would plan to live in one unit, rent the other unit to a tenant along with a large garage included with the property, for $1250-$1600 combined-Finance the home ending up with an eventual mortgage payment (w/taxes & insurance) of roughly $1500/month-At minimum, have a margin of $100-$350, at the same time eliminate the cost of $750 of my current mortgage payment, so in reality to my lifestyle it would be +$850-$1200/month extra income.

If you buy every lien as though you might end up owning it, you can limit your downside, but you will not eliminate it.All that said, Tax Liens do offer great opportunity, but you have to do your homework...

You could give them a chance which is basically saying rather than make a business decision to eliminate as much risk as possible I'll make more of charitable decision. 

For analysis sake I will assume:Taxes: 10% of rentMaintenance: 8% of rentCapex: 8% of rentInsurance: 8% of rentTotal: 34% of rentInvestors who choose to self manage their properties can eliminate the direct property management expense.

This has an early cash value rider that eliminates the surrender charges.