I've passively observed his success and think real estate can be as good as, if not better than, the stock market.I have three immediate challenges. 1) Convincing my spouse, who expertly manages our finances, to give this a go; 2) finding a cash flowing property in the OVERPRICED Baltimore/Washington DC marketplace; and 3) coming up with the down payment for my/our first deal.One other challenge, and I'm sure many on here can relate, tearing myself away from all of the awesomely informative podcasts from BiggerPockets.

@Marci SteinI'm surprised the inspector could not observe that himself. 

If there are events or places with other REI go and observe.

I agree with you that if the numbers ultimately work, then I am okay with the deal having a couple different fees on it however my recent experience, which is the reason for this post, is that these wholesale deals aren't getting to me and other cash buyers as actual "wholesale" by the time the multiple layer of fees are placed on them.In regards to your observance of "agents add your commission" and "they have very slim margins" - well, I have point out here that if (we) let the "they have very slim margins" excuse be okay, then the wholesalers are going to continue to take the lowest hanging fruit because they know that they can just feed it to their massive list of [agents] that will move the properties for them.

Only 2 things I could observe, from outside, was; 1.

I think this is fishy and probably over promising based on what I observed for needed repairs to bring the property up to current standards as a rental.  

@Peter Pezzano All of this is based on my observations of foreclosures in Georgia and may work differently where you are so take it for what it's worth.How much is owed to the bank is only known by the bank, the seller and the attorney foreclosing.

I think the most important factor is the length of time between an observable supply shortage and new supply coming onto market. 

Just my observance.

Sharing the data below and appreciate any advice on how you would forecast vacancy.For reference: I plan to acquire for cash flow and maintain as needed; no active development.Q3'16 Metro-Detroit Data; source: CBRESub-Market data specific to the building in question (classes A,B,C); source: listing broker(shows 8% vacancy)Historic Vacancy & Forecast specific to the building's submarket; source: listing brokerI requested historic data dating back to 2005 to observe how vacancy was effected by the last recession, but historic data was only available to 2012.