In fact, of all the houses I've owned as residences or second homes, the three that I've sold showed trivial appreciation, or even value reductions.

Banks have brokers do appraisals on most foreclosures before they are listed, and every time their is a price reduction.

Loan modifications may include interest-rate or principal reductions.

I believe that good real estate agents are worth their weight in gold.Remember, not all Real Estate Agents are alike just as not all Doctors or Contractors or any other profession are alike.To group us in a 'ALL' category does a disservice not only to us, but to the categorizer as well.

You need to be able to write letters for pre-foreclosure, bankruptcy, absentee landlords, etc...A well written letter is worth its weight in gold.

I wish there was, but all these questions Josh and others have posted are a good start in weeding out the obvious dead weight.

Spread" is the concept where you try to earn a Return On Investment (ROI) that is higher than your Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).

Kept bringing in people with no credit, several judgments against them, haggling for rent reductions, etc.

you might want to see if the lender would release the lot for sale and tell you how much of the $$$ would have to go toward reduction of the loan.

The correct income tax treatment of a seller credit to buyer for closing costs is a reduction of the seller's sale price, so it would not affect his/her capital gain treatment.