Hi Benny,I believe the reason you can't get title insurance for 12 months on a tax sale property is because the seller may have right of redemption and be able to buy the property back within 12 months if they are able.I believe this is only true for tax sales and not mortgage foreclosures. 

When you approach seller or buyer it is against the law to pretend otherwise.

Make sure the seller transfers the security deposit to you at closing. 

I feel like other investors are more aware of the market and would therefore just flip the property themselves whereas individuals are more likely to fit the mold of the motivated seller.  

The response from the seller's agent came in as a text at 5:29 pm last night when the offer was set to expire at 5:30.

Submit ORW to the seller.

Ask the seller if he is willing to take less of a down payment, you ever know if you don't ask. 

Or seller didn't remove his post after it was sold?

And two big packages from the same seller last year for $2,579,000 that appraised for $3,286,400... getting those were all about gaining some inside information and then knowing ways to exploit it. 

I've had better experience with "fair market" transactions listed by motivated individuals.My advice is to have your agent to set up a search for vacant houses with key words like 'fixer-upper', 'probate', etc.