REO Start to Finish

[Mike Jones]

Hello, I am new to the real estate investing and view the current market as the prime time to take my plunge. My problem is I don't know the entire process from start to finish and fear of the unknown is slowing me (i.e. my wife) down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am in St. Louis and my focus will be on REOs either through auction (Hudson & Marshall) or through various websites. I think to be successful I will need to purchase at about 35 - 45% below current asking price. I'll will most likely be using a local hard money lender, rehabbing (hopefully putting only about 10-15% back into the house), and then refinancing using traditional loan. At that point I will either try to flip or do a lease option. Some of my questions are below.

If I do not buy at auction, do I need a buyer's agent?

Is 35-45% below current asking values achievable?

My mortgage guy is telling me that when i go to refinance to traditional loan, I will not be able to cash out even if the home appraises higher than the hard money loan plus repairs? Is anyone having this problem? Does anyone know of a lender that is still doing cash outs?

To do a cash out for example I'll need to buy a $100k house at $60k, put $10k into it for rehab, have it appraised for at least $100k, refinance for a 80/20 loan, and cash out $10k. Is that math right?

Where can i find lease option forms?

Any help is greatly appreciated. If anyone knows of clubs/groups/seminars/conferences in St. Louis for rehabbers and foreclosures please let me know. Good luck out there.