We got one duplex which was older but tons of recent updates that was assessed at 130K for 78K at an estate auction (50K of instant equity) and the rents on that 78K purchase bring in about 1400 month, getting to around a 1.75% per month rent ratio.

If done correctly, the first mortgage holder gains instant ownership of the property if the buyer (second mortgage holder) fails to abide by the terms of the contract. 

I use Redfin for my initial searches because I like the instant email alerts.

Do you know the ninja trick for how to file your 2015 taxes early and have it instantly validated so you don't get stuck in 4506-T Hell while the IRS spends months "processing" your taxes?

I stayed in my rented apartment for another month until I had fixed all the essential appliances, painted and put down new flooring. it was a mild inconvenience for the extra 60,000 in instant equity i had one year later. 

You can almost always get the purchase price at a 10% discount (or more) providing instant equity above your rehabbing.  

Typically i would pay a bit extra for sod and have an instant beautiful green front lawn. 

Only issue that I might have is that the CoOperative water/electric utility is still manually reading meters so it isn't instant.  

AND you can get instant preliminary approval online in less than 5 minutes... get a loan offer in 5 days or less and be closed on the property in as little as 10 business days.We are the nation's leading hard money lender for short-term real estate investment loans offering 100% financing with private money on 1-4 unit residential rehab and resell loans.

The ones I've expanded to have been ones I have MLS access in, so I can get pretty instant market research done.