I got the green light from the local commercial bank this morning and will hopefully be making an offer next week after another run-through a property with a contractor friend and mentor.Sandy, thanks for the invite to the RE group meetup.

@James Green@James Bowerman I created a meetup account so I definitely plan to attend that location in the coming weeks. 

Ask your friendly title company to create a HUD-1 for youWith the offer attach pictures of all the ugly things about the property; the landscaping, broken windows, bad walk ways, bad fencing, green water in the pool, any nasty pictures of the interior, the estimate amount of renovations neededWrite a cover letter stating what you will do if they accept your offer; secure the property, insure the house, pay all cash, take care immediately of the roof problem, protect and secure the house form squatters, have the electric turned on, notify the water department, notify the local police to keep an eye out for vandals...etc.Since no one at the bank can make a decision as fast as you want, put a drop dead date in your offer.

@Lori Greene, @Joel Owens, Thank you very much for your responses. 

Option 2) Sell and eat the loss.

Cant have your cake and eat it too.  

I am eating up the great information on the site including the BP podcasts on Stitcher.  

Example my area we have NELA landlords and we meetup once a month for lunch at a catfish house, eat, guest speaker, and pick each other's brains over. 

The interest will eat you alive.  

If you are already putting in Wi-Fi or putting in a putting green etc, then let them use it at the same price to terminate on your terms.