So treat this as background info only, provided by "A Guy on the Internet."

My professional background/career is in Marketing so Im not all that experienced myself but I started in the BP library and have since learned so much about different aspects, strategies, and about the real estate industry in general.

Another thing I am thinking about is, will a 203k loan cover two duplex since I will TECHNICALLY only live in one of the building since they are detached?

So a little background about myself first, I'm 23 years old working a full time job, I don't have money saved up yet, but I am determined to be a rental property owner by January 2018!

A promise of monies that "should ultimately be collectible" with enough time and effort, from a distant party who is "technically legally resposible" for the debt, is a far cry from actual money missing from my pocket today because I trusted that someone other than the tenant I screened would come up with the rent money.  

I do not have a lot of background on real estate investing however growing up I would help my step father with different investment properties when he was rehabbing to flip or rent out.

I've targeted to save about 50k in cash by mid year.Ok now that the background is out of the way here comes the question.

I did find some background on him and it seems like he's been mainly focused on stocks, etc, right?

You could technically take possession sooner if you can get both of their signatures on a release form giving you possession because you won't be getting rent so they need to give you possession right away so you can get it turned.

question is does the current owner who left town.. care about their credit.. are the payment current.if the answer to that is yes.. then as Wayne states above you want to be very careful.other wise the technical answer to your question is warrenty deed and go record it.. creates a sub too transaction...