Daniel Ebling Employees = full control, more government regulations, reporting.

I would assume once the land is under Federal government control any past mortgages/liens are pretty much non-existent.

What does the lease say regarding pest control? 

I could pay them a salary or hourly wage and I am thinking that would be less expensive and give me more control? 

Rent control is the biggest PITA, for sure. 

If you want to take control of the property without title transferring, to avoid the seller having to pay off the mortgage, you could do something like a lease option, where you make monthly payments to the owner in title (perhaps the same as the loan terms you discussed) and you are given the right to purchase the property any time in the future at a set price ($143,000).

Have your title company, inspector, pest guy ect, all lined up and have told them you want them to work on your property so that when the bat signal goes up you can start due diligence.

How about  accounting, legal, lease up fees, snow removal, Pest management, or CapEx reserves?  

I am selling now to take advantage of not paying cap gains (and I dislike knowing that assessments are coming that I don't have control over). 

People will want to work with you and then you are in control of negotiating the lending structure.