My situation, I'm a 32 year old single father of an 8 year old girl, I have a full time job making around 61k/year I have been renting a townhouse from my mother for nearly a decade, never really thinking I would have to move in fact, I assumed(like an ***) that I would just end up owning it sooner or later, I never prepared for having to move or prepared a downpayment or anything of that sort, in other words, I've been very stupid over the years.

What is more typical is you being the guarantor on the loan and title being held in LLC name.

I do think most investors have a cash flow requirement of some sort, but it can certainly vary.

I think if you have "boots on the ground" in place in NY and/or don't mind making the trip then you should take advantage of your knowledge of the local market.I am not sure where you are getting your list of apartment owners from, but I typically use a cheap postcard on my first mailer to "scrub the list". 

Maybe in a nutshell the typical process, chances of actually winning a bid?

My parents don't take lightly the issue of potential 'unfairness' and are trying to sort things out regarding that.

They typically do not go ( they are with such and such company so I will go with them.) 

There are no repairs requested, no loan contingency, no appraisal contingency. typically no cold feet buyers who back out for no good reason, etc. 

So, your going to spend $800,000 in the sort term and pull $700,000 back leaving $100,000 tied up with a return of $1000 a month?

I typically ask about replacement dates of roof, electric box, plumbing and water heater).