I'm personally not a massive fan of 529 plans except in specific cases.

if it went through an actual foreclosure then as stated most if not all the junior liens should have been removed from title .. they still exist as to the person who lost the home.so something is no adding up.

I personally want to do some flipping but only to fund the buy and hold positions.

I took out a $25k mortgage and sold 2 cars to get started.  7 figures of business later its definitely paid off.Regardless of who it has and has not worked for, this is a very personal decision with no wrong answer.Is your desire to create a life you want greater than your fear of losing that money and more? 

Use this to start-up a conversation, and create a real-person contact.  

If you can afford 20% down and qualify for a conventional loan then that would clearly be a better option, however if one or both of those are problems then the seller may be justified in their loan terms.I personally would not lock up $70K+ of my money for 20 years for only 12.5% interest.

So as most people, I started buying property the tradition bank/ conventional way, with personal credit and guarantee. 

Personally, I would prefer 90 days because markets are always changing.

Write it up as a personal letter.When you do all that, then contact a local RE Agent to give you a list of all the houses in that neighborhood that have sold in the last 5 years with all cash.

The person managing for them (not always a good, licensed property manager, but one that will do what the owner says) gets a new tenant in quickly that has first months rent and security deposit and some form of job.