I invest in a bit of "rust" myself in Milwaukee.  

You're only out a few hundred bucks, that is the risk of doing anything with real estate. 

@Odie Ayagaof course - if there's enough equity to cover the sum of all debts, there's profit.the biggest challenge i find when i look at a foreclosing property is to "know" how many loans does it have, and so there may be an unseen debt from senior positions.of course i could run a title search but its not fun to spend a hundered bucks on every property only to find out 90% of them are underwater.

So I worked at a rate of $25 bucks an hour which isn't too bad.

Im Tired of fighting junk and the calls when new economy applIances Are just another 150 bucks more and you know what you got plus it makes the unit that much more desirable to rent out

If that's not possible, my next option would probably be to ask someone locally to do it(maybe a handyman), in exchange for a few bucks a week.

In that case, the agent took 20% - very reasonable IMHO, as she had to do a lot of the legwork (including finding a buyer and showing the property a couple of times), and for that, she ended up with just a couple of thousand bucks.  

I would probably get them a new fridge and pay him the $180 bucks for food spoilage.

It may cost a few bucks but you’re better off having it done right until you learn the ropes 

@Dave Passey that’s why we are here Dave to make the big bucks!