Consider my post just blowing off frustration over closing costs.

I've looked at a few properties on the auction sites and it seems like a totally annoying and frustrating process.

I understand your frustration and after reading the communication between you and our Property Manager it seemed you all were in agreement And moving toward a resolution, which is why I was stunned by this post. 


It’s making running the numbers a big guessing game and it’s quite frustrating!

well I am not a NPN expert by any means but this is an interesting question so this is my best guess's1. the 189k is all the property is worth.. in reality.. so that's why its listed at that price.. and probably in contract for around that number.2. the seller does not realize you own the 2nd and who ever sold you the second probably realized the value was not there and unloaded it to you.. 3. your in the drivers seat in that this deal can't close without you signing off on your payoff.4. this is a short sale .. the first lender will be asked to take a short and will usually only cooperate if you as the second take no more than about 5k for your position.5. if you paid for than a few grand for the 2nd your in jeopardy.6. if you don't cooperate and the 2nd is in default you can foreclose payoff the first and deal with the asset.. 7. if the seller gets frustrated they just walk and squat stop paying on the first it forecloses and you either pay it off or it wipes you out completely .either way.. 2nds for most folks are pretty risky.. unless of course you paid next to nothing for it and its just mad money.. that you can easily lose. and just chalk it up to well that did not work.

I get really frustrated when I pay for work and it ends up not being to my quality standards or time frame, so sometimes even when I know it would be better $$ wise to hire someone out, I just do it myself

Although you may find yourself frustrated with limitations of cash only growth and be tempted to leverage the cash assets - again not a problem in measured amounts as you said.The run up of your CA property has positioned you to take advantage of this right now which is a rare combination of events happening only in a small portion of a macro market cycle.  

Its almost borderline ridiculous when you compare the availability and quality of homes on the market from 2015-2017 to today, some may even get frustrated.

Frustrating, but not at all unusual. 

My sellers were clearly trying to hide this from me which is frustrating.