Do you guys ever take the risk of buying a foreclosure at sheriff sale with the previous owner still living in it? How do you calculate rehab cost given you can’t look inside?

There is demand for it and demand in this area for affordable housing, in a tourist area where plenty of people have vacant, second/third homes for seasonal fishing and hunting.

Some general pros v cons - I'm sure other people will provide other insights as wellPros: -Above market rents- Monthly rent payment on time that you don't have to worry about or chase anyone down for (if full pay)- No shortage of tenants depending on your standards - Tenants are incentivized to not trash/destroy the unit, otherwise they'll lose their voucher (Yearly inspections made by local S8 inspectors to keep everyone honest- Rental payouts are normally adjusted 1-2 times a year to keep up with market rentsCons:- May take a little while to get onboarded - dealing with local govt can always take longer than expected   - Generally won't have a super high credit score (to be expected given it's the govt paying for rent)- Each unit will need to be inspected and meet a certain living standard in order to be approved for fundingYou'll want to make sure you work with a property manager who has extensive experience in working with S8. 

I might get 100 people contact me about a rental within the first week with 10-20 showing up to see the place and a 5-10 applying.

Plenty of people do have 10-20 unit and work thru it, you just need to think it thru and have a plan if you don't want to do all the work. 

Anyways, I'm seeing a lot of general speculation on here but people don't invest in these markets because they believe they're the greatest places to live in the world, they're interested in the cash flow and possible appreciation.None of my clients were talking about appreciation in the Cleveland market in 2019 and now their properties are worth 30-40% more, and that's on top of record high rent prices in this market. 

I'm looking forward to meeting new people and am happy to share my experiences through my first 4 years in real estate with anybody who's looking to get started.

Nice area for young people. 

You really need an infrastructure to run something like that - systems, people...and you have to keep it going. 

When I go to events like this, I do go to some of the sessions, but most of my time is just sitting in the lobby chatting with people.