Hi Marylyn,Numbers look fine moving forward.First, I never give any credence at all to BBB ratings, meaningless as they are consumer oriented and, the good standing often comes from the membership fees and donations of the business, it's more of a PR concept than a regulatory type oversight of members operations.Principles on the lease are critical as to guarantors.

@Cheyenne Davis  ... with all the regulatory changes in our post 'great recession' economy, are you sure that you are meeting current requirements for a "subject to" deal?

Also keep in mind that banks, mortgage insurance, and regulatory agencies often verify or compare their own data with assessment records.

He is claiming 45 days no problem.....same story i heard on the last 3.Would love to have him put a few thousand dollars in escrow as some type of performance deposit but I fear regulatory issues might not allow that?  

by and large if a parcel of land in any major metro city was on MLS  and did not sell then it was overpriced probably by a lot... or has some other hair on it.IN markets were new construction is viable and hot land deals sell in a matter of hours or days at the most to builders looking for lots.my take on Texas as whole ( not Austin though) is there is so much land that builders and developers have a lot of options and unless you have some sort of infill in a super hot spot  your dealing with a parcels with limited value or desirability or physical constraints for environmental or regulatory impediments.   

But folks who don't mind fighting legal and regulatory issues are killing it there, like @Amit M.

Personally I think this type of investing requires a more hands-on-learning approach.Like many have stated, the idea is to buy a non-performing note at a discount, contact the borrower (within consumer protection guidelines), negotiate a win-win-win solution, collect payments.The idea of it sounds easy enough, but the actual practice will require much more in depth understanding of the rules and regulation as to what you can or cannot do.Suggested Reading, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: http://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-reform-proceedings/fair-debt-collection-practices-act-text 

We also have the inexperienced who can't define an installment contract who attempt to contradict others who can, attempting to apply logic to financing regulations or regulatory matters in order to push their marketing agenda of ill conceived ideas.

All my comments are in reference to CaliforniaI found this in a law book online:---------------------------------The right of the broker in California to complete standard form contracts of sale is not established by the case law, but one commentator has suggested that it may be inferred from the interpretation of regulatory statutes governing the definition and examination requirements of real estate brokers.

Some businesses, not so in RE really, may generate x dollars quickly and level off and remain constant, an example might be taxi service where demand can be met rather quickly, business levels will remain rather constant in a community du to population and where regulatory constraints may limit the number of vehicles in service, rates charged and limitations to competition.