But if it is such a deal, why hasn't anyone else bought it?

Question his references or your sources to see if he has ever done this with anyone else.

* Get bank accounts* Have at least an initial meeting with an accountAnything else you can think of?

Sometimes you will see something like "you've been denied credit due to too many derogatory remarks" -- that just means too many instances of late payments, or too close to your max limit, or anything else that is perceived as a negative.

I don't know what else to do with tracking down the owner and I really believe this owner might be decease and does not live in this country any longer.

Pay somebody else to do it.

Short of messing with contracts, since you know your buyer you can have him pay the wholesaler 2K less than they'll agree on... thus giving you the 2K.

There is no sense in letting someone else profit from what you've pieced together.

It would be nice to have a roof over my head and someone else paying the mortgage to begin things.

Is the return that you will get on your investment equal to what you can get somewhere else?