Increasing expenses is an obvious answer; non-obvious answer lies somewhere in the realm of corporations, being fully employed by real estate business, etc, hiring myself as an employee....I'd really appreciate any advice, even a referral to a real estate CPA would be useful.

Aside from that, the blatant lies the administration is spreading about the murder of Americans in Libya, is beyond being acceptable.

And don't buy into the lie about time management.

These sellers may lie to you to when truth sounds better!

they can walk you through where local utilities lie and where the taps or connections need to be made.

I do understand that sellers lie, but I was wanting to get some information on the subject matter to see if that does happen.

Now one of the counties I do business in doesn't have the records online, but for the other county looking up the note amount is a normal part of my research for a deal.The key to finding deals lies in two factors, motivated sellers and equity.

Bottom lie I think your going to eat this one. hang in there. prepare for the worse and hope for the best.I just met a guy that gave $18k cash to another guy that promised him 12% return. well long story short this highly educated senior electrical engineer is out $18k. with no contract, or collateral he is out of luck.

I figure there are three options: (1) get an agreement from him, get it inspected, buy it for cash - that would be ultra-fast and get him out of trouble - only of course I don't have $180K lying around (2) help him get paid up for all his debts in exchange for him selling the house to me, and then I get traditional financing - what are the exact steps here, though?

I've taken the time to learn the laws and I choose to trust them, which means I don't need to worry about putting any earnest money.Of course it would always be good to consult a qualified attorney in your state before making any legal decisions about your business practices.On a technical note, if I were to tell a seller "to make this legal, we have to put down $1 earnest money" I would be lying to them.