If I ever decide to leave my corporate job I would consider flipping on the side as a way to keep my network fresh and generate cash for investments.Ultimately, investing is using money to get more time (freedom) and flipping is using time to get more money.

It all fun and giggles until you go to eviction court.  

Some didn't need any work or not much and sold to end users.I live in the Pacific Northwest but nationwide we've heard of folks doing wholesale mobile home deals.Good luck and have fun!

Also, I may be having so much fun with my dreams being a reality that I'll just keep buying.Is this plan realistic or too ambitious?

I am told that the average profit on a flip in Maricopa County is $10,000 (I do much better than that because I buy correctly and I don't over do the remodel)6) Remember, you make your profit when you buy (buy wisely)7) Flipping:      Fun?

Offer to pay his move (with a max price) and  maybe offer him a 1k  to start fresh (only with the comdition that you successfully acquire the property).

I think this'll be fun.

I Started reading books on real estate investing actually just got fun and it has been growing into something I'm becoming passionate about, I discovered this website about a week ago and it's provided me with tons of knowledge.

Although a lot of fun, my job is too erratic with long hours to do that, so I came across Brandon Turner's book on Rental Property Investing and felt it gave me options to be more "hands off" in terms of being an investor with good property managers, etc.I'm saving money and hope in the next year to buy my first property as I learn more, read more, and hopefully see the seattle market slow down a bit.I would love to meet like-minded people in the area.  

Joe's brother-in-law buying Joe's house at a short sale would be a huge red flag for fraud.I think the biggest arrow in your quiver is #1, and your most probable path to success is to order a fresh appraisal with a fresh opinion of value, and once it comes back go to your (or the end-lender's) appraisal department (not the AMC, the lender's internal folks) and argue that the new appraisal is more credible than the previous one because of #1 ("if the appraiser didn't even go to the comps for a quick drive-by photo, who knows what else he didn't even actually do?")