Good afternoon BP, I'm Joe and I'm a new REI in northern California.I'm in the preliminary stages of vetting an off market deal with the family of a friend.  

Doing some preliminary browsing, there are probably 25 - 50 condos that fit into the broad strokes of your search criteria (under 500k, under 400ish a month HOA).The properties vary wildly though, from 500 to 1000 sq ft (a massive difference especially if you’re planning for a long term roommate).

Others might ask a title company for some sort or another of "preliminary" title report which may or may not include insurance, at low cost.

It seems that there are already some other investors/professionals who have responded in this thread that are willing to offer some guidance.Understanding the loan process: When working with a hard money lender, this will generally take the form of: Intake --> Preliminary underwriting --> Appraisal --> Final underwriting --> Closing --> Servicing --> Payoff.

Preliminary approval for cluster development is in place for 12 SFHs, although some permits have since expired.

I am coming in just under 75 ltv and bank seems ok with that in preliminary talks.

From my preliminary research into investing in real estate, I am not able to determine if these investment companies are worth it.

Also is there any difference between title search, preliminary title search and/or abstractors certificate?

@Madelyn Tavarez Alecia recommends a good site for a more comprehensive search, if you want to do a preliminary search much cheaper for your initial due diligence try Property Shark.

Ok, so let's make a friendly wager $100.