looking for a foreclosure mentor

[Aaron Asmar]

Hello,

I'm in NC, flexible across the piedmont, mountains and coast.

I've done quite a bit of research on foreclosures and short sales and understand the basics and the various types and ways of approaching them.

I understand the need to do a drive-by and a title search and how to show up at auction or bid online at auction. I do not understand the other due diligence that should be done to weed out waste-of-time projects or plots of land.

But I still feel there are some important things about buying a first foreclosure or pre-foreclosure that I am missing—

1) it is so unclear to me which are "real" foreclosures and which are people who are just late on their taxes and you would show up to the courthouse for nothing.

2) Second, all the online auctions have "reserves" which never seem to get met. what happens if you bid and no reserve is met?

3) if you show up to the courthouse, how do you not get rolled or ****ed over by the grizzled veterans and insiders who have every interest in keeping you out of their piece of the pie or ushering you into a **** deal.

I would love to have a mentor to show me some of the ropes so I don't make a big mistake or overlook something vital.