Marco Giovannoli If you want to do this on your own, I suggest you:- speak with a planning consultant to get a good idea of the approvals process and timeline; - speak with an engineering consultant will give you an idea of the costs involved with servicing a site that size and a reasonable timeframe to complete the work;- speak with the town planning department to get a sense of the town's view regarding the development and determine the paperwork/studies that will have to be submitted;- ask the vendor/broker if there is an environmental report done for the site to determine the extent to which soil remediation will need to be undertaken;If this is your first project, I highly suggest you find a developer to partner with in order to learn the process first.

In Santa Clara County (just next door of you), you would go to the county building, records department where by name or parcel number you could look up liens through their computer system which is open to the public.

If replacing tenants is creating a significant vacancy loss you are a poorly organised lazy landlord.

The special ed department shes under has come up with the idea of getting a small 2 bed, 1 bath house to help out the students by leveling up there home ec/independent living abilities which sounds like something that could really help out these kids.

My why's are:To be able to tithe more at churchTo be able to help my nephews pay for post-graduate educationTo have something to invest my time inTo not have to work in my 60s and upTo be able to help my brothers and nephews health concerns as they ageTo be an example of how one can start again financially at 40-50 and succeedTo have leisure time to travel, read, do needleworkTo share as much time with my brothers and my nephews as that and I wantTo donate to the care for the organ fund at churchTo assist women entrepreneurs in the US and abroadTo be able to donate at least one million dollars to the department of surgery at HUHTo donate at least one million dollars to Hoeard UniversityTo donate at least one million dollars to Howard University College of Medicine That's it for now!

could you contact the sheriffs department and pick up the paperwork? 

There has been a lot of discussion on this topic already, but I would like to reinforce that creating LLC's is very easy to do online at the state department of revenue or secretary of state for most states.  

Points I have considered so far:- Asbestos and Lead certificate before getting the demo permit (Price $5k)- Demo ($15k)- Confirmed with building department that it is zoned for duplex-Town and water sewer at the street- From talking to experienced builders, they mentioned use $100/ sq ft as your calculations to build.- What plans would you suggest I should look for - Colonial duplexes or split ranches.

The sheriff department can serve them (they usually have a separate department that handles the civil process), or you can pay a professional server (that is often their only job).

It might mean the lender's file has been transferred to its foreclosure department for pre-foreclosure inspections and possibly property management, workup and analysis.