To me, this credit score seems to be the single best determinant of the likelihood of a tenant to pay on time and treat the place right. 

For most investors, the 1% rule is a quick way to determine if a deal is worth looking into further, but not as a determining factor to buy or not. 

How to determine/set your goals as a borrower- if you have goals in place, a lender will have a clearer picture on defining terms and a strategy for you to scale your investing career.

She also had contractors in her contacts that was able to assist in walkthroughs to better determine what our BEST case scenarios were and could be.

She also had contractors in her contacts that was able to assist in walkthroughs to better determine what our BEST case scenarios were and could be.

@Rusty DukeThe two year clock starts when you live and own the property.You look back on the most recent 5 years to determine section 121 exclusion.If you move out of the property once the property is signed, you would no longer count those days.If you move out much earlier than when the property is signed, you use that date.

My guess is it was determined that nothing in the immediate area was a good comp due to age and finish level, so the appraiser ventured farther out for comps. 

IRS or local property tax liens are always going to be senior.

Imagine doing this exercise for a property that has appreciated over $6.8k/month over the hold period (our best appreciating property).The plan starts with determining whether you can somehow get financing with a high LTV loan and that you can come up with the required down. 

Sure, you can find skip traces out there that are 4 cents per record but you end up getting bad data or 9+ numbers that you have to sift through to determine if they're the right person or not; often times the phone number/contact will be information that was correct years ago.