I believe that an artificial appreciation took place initially, but fortunately this was a good thing as consumers took the time to rebuild their credit, they could come back and buy the same homes (only now more renovated) in three to five years.

From mowing the lawn and maintaining the bushes to planting flowers and fixing the detached garage, all on his own dime.  

What I learned the most of this deal is 1) make sure your contractors clean up after themselves and don't leave any bulky trash on the front lawn!!!

Place a sign in the lawn with your number right next to the FSBO sign.

       @Nicole Sorensen Hull I suspect the actual intent was to hide the taxable gain, by artificially increasing the sales price via an "insider loan" or cash payment which is funneled back to the seller.  

If there are any shared utilities or other items (example, a shared driveway, lawn, septic tank or well that needs maintenance, plowing or other upkeep), this creates another set of issues that could be perceived as self-dealing.  

@John Jacksonand I are good friends.He lives in Texas and has mastered lease option assignments in TX, not easy in TX.In 2002 he and I became friends, and I trained him on the basics of cooperative assignments, where you enter into a lease and an option with the seller as a principal, not as an agent but a principal.You then assign the deal for a fee of generally 3 to 5%.In the example above for $100Kthey owe $95,000If they listed for a $100K, sellers would have to pay the cost to sell, which include the following:– commissions 3 to 6%– closing costs 2%– sellers concessions 3 to 6%– vacancy costs we have to pay the PITI while is being sold, let’s say $1000×4 months, and this includes electric , heat, watering lawns, garbge, and so forth– spruce up costs, such as painting a wall or replacing a carpet, or fixing a fence.Many sellers don’t have a lot of cash in the bank, and they don’t want to get more debt on a credit card fix up their house and they can sell it.So this particular seller would probably pay 10% to 15% of the value of the property to sell with an agent quickly.

I get a notice for a couple of small weeds barely visible up close, yet my neighbors can place basketball hoops in the middle of the street (not allowed), window AC units (not allowed) cars parked on sidewalks and in once case a lawn for a month (def. not allowed), etc.

There is a local guy who handles lawn, snow, and unit clean up who has a check mailed to him once work is completed.  

The tenant pays every month, keeps the inside very clean, not just maintains the lawn but has improved it far beyond its state when he moved in, and never complains about frivolous stuff.