I actually had a tenant call me last weekend to ask if I wanted to come do an inspection because the lease is up in 2 months and they want to make sure I know they are doing a great job so they can stay.Set the tone and pattern at the beginning and most of the work is done for you for the rest of the time.

You can't squeeze blood from an old stone, just by gutting it and putting in new cabinets and marble counters if your Sale Price is going to be the same as the New Town Homes in the same area. 

We exclude things like "consistent patterns of delinquency," instead of "credit scores below 700." 

.#1 As of now , there is no clear pattern to price drops as there has been in the past#2 Bid in expectation of a price drop does not help once the price drops as older bids will not be manually reviewed at that time#3  Watch for the price drop and bid %87-88 net to hud the next dayFHA loans are very difficult on Hud homes as availability of utilities may be limited. 

Who are the main employers in town, where do the people get their income from, what's the town's growth pattern and how far is it from the major MSAs. 

But that 32.3% return was over 2 years, so your annualized return would be 32.3%/2 Years = 16.15%  (lower that your Year 1 return of 26%.This of course was neglecting rent but that wouldn't change the general pattern.  

@Keith Marble you are missing a lot of the expenses (property management, repairs, maint, vacancy, loss to leas, reserves, etc.)There is no way insurance is $320/year for a $200K property.

I think it a great way to learn, plus their bid acceptance followed a pattern that I had figured out at the time (though I have been told they changed it several years ago)

After a while say 50 or so you will begin to see patterns in your area.

One of the patterns I have seen when writing Offers on short sales is having the listing agent lower the listing price to your purchase price, most of the time the approved price comes in closer to you Offer.