You also may need to work quickly to make offers and bring a deal together.

If you work a day job in addition to your plans to pursue real estate in this way, then focusing in 1 city/MSA will drastically reduce your time spent focused outside your job, allowing you to keep your income high, your job safe, and your problems simpler.

Even if someone gives you the lay of the land, you would still want to go there to see for yourself, just as you would definitely have someone come check out Dorchester to see what they consider safe and not safe.

Down payment on FHA is 3.5% so you’re not wrong there and safe to assume another 2-4% for closing costs BUT you can negotiate seller assist to cover bulk of the fees if not all.

The owner was an older gentleman who wanted to sell quickly without the hassle of listing, showings, and back-and-forth offers.

So in this situation, where you have a relation with the borrower/home owner it is likely safe to assume if you get too greedy and ask for a heavy discount there will be no deal.

He knows EVERYONE:)quick check they are NMLS licensed and state licensed so good on that end.. when they come to Oregon they will need to get state licensed here.. and in WA no license required.. you see a lot of lenders say they loan in NV but many are not licensed there..

I was hopping to find a very knowledgeable attorney who can tell me exactly exactly what to do or not and be on the safe side of the law.

We see people thinking they will make the quick buck.We also had a second position loan we foreclosed on and the buyer did not realize there was a first position loan - they called us wanting their money back.... 

You will probably be better off focusing on paying that off as quickly as possible rather than putting money in a HYSA and definitely more so than putting it in a Roth.