I can tell you from working in land development do not get greedy.There are ways for the city and for a developer to get your property for less if you give them trouble.If it's a fair offer you take it and call it a day.If they are trying to steal it or buy it for less than you could get for development yourself then you fight them.You don't give it away but for a fair offer you agree.

I can sense people would say, "What if the Seller fights you on sales price?"

Everything needs to be covered so there is no fighting, bickering or finger pointing at a later date.

Someday you will be able to tell others about your horror story and how you either got out or stayed to fight another day.

We entered into an escrow deal with the bank on a single family REO, placed the funds in escrow, then had to fight for months to get our money back out -- it was like paying double for the repairs as we had the money held up in escrow but then had to show a receipt and proof of work done to get our money back out, and somehow the bank then said they decided to put the escrow funds toward the balance of our loan instead of returning it to us after repairs were made, and it took months to get our funds returned instead of credited toward our loan balance like they wanted.

The 2nd came in at what I paid for the property, i had to fight that for about a week, had it thrown out and then the 3rd appraisal came in over the sales amount.

That way, you'll be invested and will fight instead of quitting.

There are investors that do this kind of thing with HUD homes as well.They sign paperwork at closing that they are occupying the property.Another component of this is fraud to a lender on a loan if you say you will be living there.The reason is lenders give certain rates to owner occupants because statistically you will fight much harder to keep a place you live in.If it's just a bad investment it is easier to walk away hence a higher rate and more down.This property from what you said is 2,400 X 12 = 28,800By half is 144,000 at a 10 cap based on 50% costs.The carpet and paint the bank put lipstick on it it appeal to a home buyer living in one unit and driving the price up.On a quad typically you could expect about 8,000 for the siding,4,000 for the roof,6,000 for 4 outside A/C units,if interior bathrooms and kitchens are outdated about 4,500 by 4 units is 18,000,then water heater and heater about another 6,000 total.So conservatively I have about 42,000 in immediate CAPEX.Every areas cost is different so I am just throwing mine out there.Now the other you say 20 quads total is what you need to worry about.If there are a bunch of short sales and foreclosures from vintage 2004,2005 loans then the new purchaser with a cash offer or a small debt service will rent below market to fill quickly and turn more or the same monthly cash as you.So you starting out at 600 rent monthly might go to 550 or 525 in your development.I have seen this happen.I have also seen even if your building is well kept quality tenants do not want to live next to the other buildings where landlords put in suspect tenants to fill up.Also some landlords with high debt service will drop rent instead of repair to keep tenants so they won't spend tens of thousands out of pocket to rehab.

you come here asking questions (which is great), but then argue with those peoples' opinions...just so you know, as real estate investors, we always have risk..and any contraact can be used, just like any argument can become a frivolous lawsuit....and you being a fancy real estate investor with your expensive contracts fighting against a helpless defenseless homeowner in default doesn't make you look good in front of a judge...so let me try to see what you're doing...you want to purchase properties from motivated sellers sub2, correct?

I was able to fight all three years (2008-2010) at the hearing.