Worst case, you have a database of leads.

Thanks Steve and Trace.....What would make you interested in a national database.I have been back and forth with one of the larger lenders and they are considering putting together a national database of houses that they consider as Investor Only properties.

This enables us to get in and do a job quickly and efficiently.

Only the rent boards know when one of the unpermitted units they've enabled to persist burns down.  

We always do our own unofficial 'title searches' before submitting an offer and/or putting a property under contract.So I know for a fact that the property is in foreclosure, a lis pendens has been filed and that there may have been a couple of judgments missed by my title company (not sure because my state seems to have two different databases - one for civil cases opened or closed and the other for closed cases that turned into docketed judgments.

In my area, most of the properties that I've been looking at don't work out with the numbers for cash flow unless I can get it significantly under market price.I'd encourage you to read the Ultimate Beginner's Guide that Paul pointed out.Also, you can enable alerts and add keywords that you're interested in by going tohttp://www.biggerpockets.com/alertsAnd there's always some great articles at:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/

Perhaps you could recommend any investors that could facilitate this transaction.For the past three years I've successfully studied & been involved with over 400 various industries as a designer & marketing consultant.Currently, everywhere you look people are buying and flipping real estate.It seems everyone is buying a home, fixing it up a little, and selling it almost immediately for a sizeable profit.We read about it in newspapers, online, and there were even television shows based on flipping houses.The flipping real estate business model works great.But here’s the good news for you . . .that same business model works in many other areas.You can flip non real estate assets just as easily, maybe easier than flipping houses.You can also use leveraged buy out techniques to alternatively buy & hold already existing businesses similar to properties also.Through the use of transactional funding I've realized that I could borrow a $250,000 swing loan from a bank, give that to the seller in morning.That would make the business mine.Then in the afternoon I could take all the assets that are in the business that I just bought and raise $360,000 (80% of $440,0000) the same day from an asset-based lender.Then I could take $250,000 of the $360,000 and instantly repay the transactional loan.Then, I'll have a $110,000 cash windfall in my bank account, which I could now use to run the business and pay myself a big bonus.The double escrow basically enables someone to do this: I never touch the $250,000 of the down payment monies put into escrow by the lender.The asset-based lender never hands methe $360,000 check. 

It enables him to keep living there for free.

I also have a database of GC's, Title/Escrow people, claims adjusters and other professionals who I trust to help make my life easier.  

The insurers have something called the CLUE database where claims info is kept, so that they can better understand risk.