Your title examination done prior to the auction is supposed to reveal all of this to you.

Some of this has been mentioned, it's easier for me to list some of the real estate issues;Draft, review and have contracts and disclosures excutedDraft notes and deeds requiredEscrow funds and make disbursementsIf they are title agents as well, they can issue title insuranceDo title examinations and issue a title opinionClose the transaction and do the filings neededSet up an escrow account and oversee paymentsAct as the Trustee on the deed of trustHandle notices of default and secure collateral in foreclosureRepresent you as a creditor in bankruptcy mattersReview construction contracts and represent you in disputesRepresent you in Tenant disputes and evictionsObtain judgments and provide collection servicesRepresent you in sale contract and disclosure disputesRepresent you in obtaining compliance or relieved from code violationsBest of all, they can keep you out of trouble!

Disassemble the suspect valve and visually examine the brass seat and the rubber washer; the brass seat might already be developing pits that result in water getting through, or the washer might already have a rut in it from where it mates with the seat.

Yes, nerves do get you even when the deal is solid.

However, after the 2008 debacle I've been pretty busy just trying to hold on to what I have and have been fairly successful at doing so up to this pointWith the economy clearly on the upswing now though I've been feeling the need to re-examine how I'm holding the properties I have now, as well as how I can acquire some more properties.

I would say this, if it's listed by a broker for any length of time it has been examined by some very experienced people.

This is sort of a long post with alot of numbers but I would like to get some other people's views on this strategy and I appreciate anyone that takes the time to examine the details.

My problem was I offered to start looking for financing for the project [which he didnt want claiming he didn't want debt on the project which I can understand but if you dont have the funds to cover, and you took my money as an investor I felt like you have to examine all options]Needless to say he came up with some additional capital 20k-30k and the owner decided to hold the note on the rest for some period.

Scott, I owned a mortgage company, had one of the largest privately financed note servicing companies in the country and was a bank examiner before that, I'm not foreign to mortgage lending, but I'm not LMO now, I'm retired. :)

Stress and nerves are what makes it fun!