Thank you Kim, this sounds like the solution I need.

@Jessica Chow Congrats on the rental, pulling the trigger on the first one is challenging.Do you have an estoppel agreement from the tenant and have you compared that to the lease provided by the current owner along with whatever background info they collected from the application?

From there if you are Brrring you can do the work on the home (using the HELOC) and once work is done you could do a 'refinance' on the home as a conventional with 20% and pull out the remaining cash which is then used to pay off the HELOC you used to get into the property.Once again this is tact I have read up on but have not personally utilized yet.

It looks you use delayed financing to pull out everything invested.

We're pulling out of the contract today and considering some other properties around Orlando right now.

He'll be more likely to pull the trigger with you once you plant that seed.The fact that he's putting tarps on roofs is a sign he doesn't have the money to keep up with the stuff.

It is a solution in some cases but fees tend to be heavy to buy into them.No legal advice given.  

I know its a lot of questions, im just  trying to get as much info as I can before pulling the trigger.

Easy solution, also looks like you are structurally sound on this one. 

For probate you need to pull Maryland probate dockets to determine if there is real property involved... and for tax sales you need to obtain the tax sale list from the county/city and then do your own research on each property.