Need some advice from you PRO's

[Ruel Baliong]

Let me start off by saying that I'm a newbie. Walked an REO today. The property has list price of $240K. After walking around with my repair estimator to give me a rough estimate of costs, I came up with $55K for the rehab. I know I don't have a keen eye for all the small details, but I didn't see any of the major signs to look for, ie mold and structure damage. Got to talking to the REO agent and he mentions that there are 3 offers on the property, 2 of whom are contractors. He then mentions that the 2 contractors made offers WITHOUT the inspection contingency (apparently, this would make a difference for the bank, specially if we come in with the same offer amount). The bank is not starting negotiations until Nov 20th. Agent offered that I can walk the property again with my own GC before making an offer. He then tells me that, when gathering his BPO, he had 2 independent contractors that gave rehab costs between 60-65K. I'm not sure if this is how these Agents usually work, but he drops a hint of, "Maybe make an offer for $205K", you never know. The ARV for the property ranges from $315K to $330K. First question is, is this even worth pursuing? Secondly, do GC's walk a property even if it's not under contract yet? I was actually thinking of even just paying somebody for their time to give me a quote. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.