This will make the future sale and all income easier to track and also reduce my liability exposure.

Short-sale, on the MLS, let the agent double-end the deal.

Purchase price: $160,000 Cash invested: $21,400 Sale price: $253,000

Well...the Dayton Dragons baseball team has the most consistent sold out games of any sporting team in North America (startling fact), Warped Wing opened a second location, and a half dozen other breweries are now open in the city...Boston Stoker coffee is totally awesome and has several new locations (this is important because it's a key indicator for the successful revitalization of many cities...beer-food-coffee is key)...there is a river front development that is reminiscent of Columbus (which was awarded best on the country), there is big inner-city revitalization...I saw a developer by the name of Simms pre-sell 24 $500k "Brownstone" townhouses in the center of downtown (unheard of in Dayton)...there are 30 renovation projects going on downtown...and they now have a full time staff on the streets to keep the city clean...the population is on the increase for the first time since 1964....I mean this is pretty superficial, but it's every bit as important as economic indicators...there is a lot more to this...There are still "war zones" in abundance in Dayton and it's the Opiate Overdose capital of the USA...but getting better rapidly...just proceed with caution if you elect to invest there...a local subject matter expert is a must!

Although I have some income from direct marketing and book sales, for many years 95% or more has come from real estate but different aspects of it like rentals, flips, holding paper and managing/contracting.

If they are for sale, your agent submits an offer like any other. 

This is simply a standard sale on a time crunch depending on teh foreclosure status.

Using the conservative low sale price of $500K this would net me about $170K to use as a down payment on something much larger in a more up and coming area.

Every real estate agent I know (all over the country) is down on sales, things are selling much slower, and just not as much action as has been for the last few years.

We had been "househacking" or renting our old condos before that. 12 months ago, we paid cash for our current rental (because we couldn't get a loan as a result of a recent short sale).