Research before buying first Rental Property

[Raj Pat]

Hello All,

I am a newbie here. Have been reading and following this website for a while now. Have read couple of Brandon's books on Real estate investing as well. Now that I have some knowledge on this subject I decided it is time for me to actually apply this and get my first property so I started looking at REO properties. I just find buying properties at Auction too risky for my experience. I saw a REO property on MLS that I am interested in and have also sent a message to my Realtor. It is being offered for $150K whereas when I do research on comparative sales based on data available it is atleast $175K. Also, Zillow seems to have an estimate of $177K.

Then I was thinking to myself if this is a nobrainer deal how come this has been sitting on MLS for 30 days.

My question to the experts is am I missing something here ? Also, my realtor said buying an REO property is like buying any other property just that they are sold in AS IS Condition but they do not require full cash payment can still get conventional financing with 20% down.

I would love to hear from the experts here as to what is the best way to approach this. Also, from the photos property seems to be in very good shape without any major damages the carpet, kitchen and bathrooms seem to be dated. If this is the case then why could the property be sitting for 30 days. Any thoughts ? Thank you so much !!