I think the auction process like Williams & Williams, Auction.com etc has been a way for banks to try to get their properties the most exposure and on the open market instead of dumping blocks of them to investors for a large discount.

Besides calling a general inspector to check for obvious issues, and a general contractor for estimating rehab costs, is there anything else I can do to reduce exposure?

If it has been on the market for 2 years, dont you think thats given it enough exposure to investors...if someone wanted it, it would have been sold by now.

We have properties sell before they even go live through this type of exposure, and they have saved me thousands on staging fees by finding a buyer before I even need to Stage the house (I stage all my properties and build it in to the renovation costs).  

@Matthew Maggy you want to reduce your exposure to loss and your unknowns. $2K for gutters is the way to do this.

The approaches would need to account for balance sheet and off-balance sheet activity and exposures.

I have some exposure to investing in Canada but not in the USA. 

First thought is that it is probably overpriced or it's not getting enough exposure if it's not being listed.

The out of pocket financial exposure is much lower in most cases. 

The lender is looking at liability exposure in case of a borrower default on the loan.Does the seller have a Phase one completed within the last 6 months??