I'm going to outline what all I have done since this property leading up to the sale below, not to brag, but to give a real world example that all of this can work.

We have a lead in Houston, that we need someone to help with.

Given that you let it sit for a year, leads me to believe you are in over your head and need to walk away.

I am ready to break away from my analysis paralysis  and jump into action.That being said, I think I have a good lead on a FSBO in my area but not sure how to move forward from this point.  

All of my marketing mostly pulls up GREAT listing leads for you as a realtor (which you can be compensated by a marketing fee from the realtor-no different than paying a lead source company, actually it can be cheaper)Also I'd like to say that if someone brought me the same deal 20K cheaper than when I looked at it and they only wanted 5K for doing so, I don't care where it's from.

My options are one of two things, put faith in the current owner and hope he fixes this tenants complaint within 7 days as stated in his lead (which I have a copy of), or potentially walking away from the deal as this problem will become my problem once we close.

She's emotionally drained right now from this property or dealing with the bank or whatever lead to her falling behind.

Incidentally, having a joint income limit of $750k makes no sense.

But that leads me to my next question.

There is tons of information here for you to not only learn, but to lead to being successful in the RE industry!