I know just by doing a preliminary crunch on available numbers that the asking price is way too high.

As far as the Marshall Reddick question goes: I think he's retired (and now run by his former colleagues) and it is just a local company whose free meetup I went to; they procure these free listings on their website and do some analysis for you so it is easier to do the math, at least, in a preliminary fashion.  

You don’t care about most of the paperwork except the Note, Deed of Trust, the sales contract, preliminary title insurance, and lender instructions to escrow.

Here most counties maintain an online records database that allows people to search for and view preliminary case information. 

The controversy is how to do a preliminary estimate of CapEx in the early stages of evaluating a property.Upon scouring the internet, podcasts, and picking investor's brains, these are the options to do an early estimate CapEx: Use 5-10% of GSI (however, I've seen as high as 15%)$200-$400/month per door$/month per unit - this is all over the place ($50-$800+)Calculating all CapEx items savings per month$0.67 per square foot/yearMy limited criticism for each method:Most common recommendation I find is 5%.

The preliminary title search or report must confirm that there are no existing liens on the subject property.  

Admittedly I haven't even run preliminary numbers yet since it's something we might do regardless as a second home.

Hey, what do you guys think about my Preliminary Tenant Screening Form.

I have started a preliminary discussion with the bank that holds the mortgages about getting access to equity (we have a conservative LTV), and they are cautiously interested, running the numbers and thinking it over.

I heard back from county today and I'm super confused by the response:That sounds very much like "we don't give preliminary assessments of subdivisibility" to me.