I’ve called the county office that handles the sale several times to get more info about wether the tax sale wipes out existing liens or if the county even notifies the lien holders, to no avail.

You are going to want to consult a legal expert & if you know what general neighborhood or suburb you’re looking to start this in, consult the local alderman’s office or city hall who can help save you weeks/months/years of time in person vs. just clicking around the internet.

We would also appreciate your observations reported to our office if there is any further suspicious activity on the premises.

You'll want to make the new job details clear to the loan officer/broker!

It might be a good idea to have your lease forbid blocking windows with foil, or other opaque items other than curtains or commercially available window blinds (that are not flags or political).Drug dealers, and fake drug dealers tend to block windows so no light can get in, and no Police Officers can see in.As far as flags it's not a proper venue for National flags, and gives you leverage in case someone decides to hang flags offensive to some (such as public display of WWII Axis flags, or socio/political flags) that might be detrimental to your rental business.Good Luck!

I really want to rent one side and use the other four studio/ office space (for myself).

So they have more business than they can handle at the moment and the paperwork and process for a bank (and the loan officer) is the same, so they rather do a $400k loan than a $40k loan.There are a few issues with the type of properties  (I used to say sub 50k, but now it's really sub 100k). 

Send your loan officer the completed Gift Letter, copy of the gift check and both (Donor andRecipient) bank statements.* (Donor Bank Statements are required for FHA loans Only)*If the most recent 30-day bank statement does not include the deposited gift check, we will also need an internet printout showing the transaction history between the cut-off date of the last bank statement through the date when the check clears your account.This is a bona fide gift and there is no obligation, expressed or implied, to repay this sum at any time.Furthermore, these funds were not made available to me/us from any person or entity with an interestin the sale of the property including the seller, real estate agent or broker, builder, loan officer, or anyother entity associated with them.

Taxes see assessor's office, Insurance get quotes from agent(landlord policy).

If you read through all their fine print, you can even figure out what their end game is.After you apply (and provide all your personal info and SSN by the way), they’re going to charge you a 1% fee for “loan processing before the loan can be set aside for disbursement to borrower” (yes I know that’s a little hard to understand but that’s how they typed it).Bottom line, they’re going to try to get money from you up front, but you’ll never get a loan from them.Tips for Avoiding a Scam on BiggerPocketsKyle,  see above in this thread the phishing i am now getting this one from a fake Fatco office.. just an FYI  you might find it interesting or amusing.