Why don’t you give us a little back story on this, I assume you didn’t just wake up one day and decide this.Letting it go to foreclosure would be a Terrible idea.  

Well I have no idea where you are or what you've done or who you've talked to, so forgive me if I assume all you've done so far is seek out sellers.Consider: getting an agent.

This will give you a better idea and then just focus on one area of RE. 

I purchased a starter type home a few months back and finally got rid of the terrible renters that I had to evict.  I have pretty solid contractors for most other things but I can't seen to nail down a deal  on cabine...

I could use some guidance here.I'm looking at a scenario and I'm new, so any ideas or inputs would  be great.I know a guy ready to give his house over to the bank because he is going broke.I'd like to try and buy his house for a great deal and make it a rental and I'm trying to think of the best technique. since Interest rates are high right now, I dont wanna open a new loan and get locked in at a high interest rate on a potentially long loan. so I was thinking about that promissory note idea. where I promise him to pay his loan payment and it stays in his name, assuming he has a better interest rate than what I could get. any ideas on that tactic?

@Dom Chit, you have some good ideas to decrease OpEx, but sometimes it's easier to focus on the top line. 

So lets go with the idea the owner is carrying the mortgage and will pay it without effecting the deal. 

I love the idea of house hacking but there are very few options on the MLS to even do it, let alone at a reasonable price ($600k+).

This will get you and idea for the expectations for different price points.

It is not a good idea to try and make enemies with public agencies.