@Kathy Armstrong How do you investigate this type of situation regarding unpaid HOA dues?

I thought I did a pretty good job of estimating the conservative value.Did I just make a huge mistake and should I walk away, or do I need to investigate these numbers futher and see why they are so different than what the seller's agent originally represented?

I have visited their website a few times to investigate what they offer as well as look for information.

Obviously a number of these foreclosures may have their share of "catches" (location, distressed, etc..) and would need due investigation, but all things considered, would you conosider it a reasonable approach to begin a real estate investing career on properties like these if I live on the west coast?

This is the sort of thing that bears investigation before investing too much.If this is in Ohio, then I doubt you'll have some of the hookup limitations we have here in the west.Jon

This is a bit more of an advanced strategy and you need to know how to investigate each property and due the due dilligence necessary to ensure a profitable investment.I would suggest as a newbie, you choose a different strategy to start out and get your feet wet.Now is the time for the buy and hold strategy.

The house is in the beginning stages of forecloser and the owner threw it on the market to try to sell.Look at the property history:Book/Page Sale Date Sale Price 14390/46 8/3/2004 239,900 13709/533 10/24/2003 99,900 3540/0280 10/8/1970 2 16862/0227 8/13/2007 226,950 This tells me it was a rehab at one point.My guess, without doing further investigating was that he couldn't rent it out, and make any money, and now he's forclosing.

Price per sq. ft. is one of the best (in my opinion) and quickest calcualations to determine if a property warrants further investigation.

Its being investigated.

Originally posted by Wheatie:To be frank, when you offer 20% returns and say "there is hardly any way to lose money in what I am doing" my eyebrows really go up.So do the eyebrows and investigative interest of every state regulator and the Securities and Exchange Commission.