Some precautions to consider:- Make sure the person who is the borrower of the underlying bank mortgage fully understands the implications  of a wrap, as well as the buyer- Consider a 5 or 10yr balloon note (vs. 30yr fixed) if you are worried that the seller may have 2nd thoughts down the road- Buyers should need to bring a significant down payment to the deal so that they have skin in the game- If your state allows a Deed of Trust for the wrap note, I suggest using that document (vs. a Mortgage) as it will put a lien on the house allow the Seller to pursue a non-judicial foreclosure if the buyer does not perform.- The home insurance after the sale (the new owner is the "insured") should retain the name of the previous owner(payor of the bank note) on the insurance as "additional insured" so as to not set off any alarms with the bank.- Use a 3rd party loan servicing company to collect all mortgage and escrow payments and make all appropriate payments to the bank lender as well as seller finance lender.   

If you improve the property by investing, for example $20 per square foot, what would those improvements bring you in increased rents?

The buyer had to either bring $5,500 in cash to closing of lose the deal.That $5,500 couldn't be financed because the 1st would have grabbed it as they were still coming up short. 

     In March of 2017 I came across a website run by a couple of successful real estate investors and mentors disguised as average Joe's (and of course their amazing team).

Probably a good idea, but there will be lots of traffic going back in....bring whatever you need.

Contracts are too important.After searching Google and reading thru websites, asking ones' network is still the best.

The earnest money deposit is yours, You can get it back if you back out of the deal within your inspection period or if the deal falls through because of financing, but if your doing a conventional loan make sure you have an Appraisal Contingency so if the property don't appraise you wont be obligated to come up with the difference.  3.No, its your money and its becomes part of the funds you bring to the table when its time to close the deal.4.

I’ve been looking on a few websites and saw a few homes that were auctioned within the last few weeks, how can I find out if these properties were successfully sold or not.

This is not a difference in semantics, put your costs on the HUD and you can refi out 100% of your cost.I have done this many time and written about it extensively on both BP and my website if you wqnt to learn more.

@Matthew Charron Tom ferry has some free scripts you can download on his website.