Here in NJ, there have been (from what I understand from talking to other realtors) numerous times where short sales have come onto the market, and the buyer and seller agree, then the bank kills the deal and forces it into their auction site so that they can give themselves a 5% premium on the back end since they own that site.  

This is an alternative to a developer having to take out numerous individual properties within a large property purchase that they intend to sell in individual parts.

I have no experience, but have spent a considerable amount of time watching numerous televised shows about home flipping, and ive read some on the subject. 

I doubt you would have ignored the red flags if you had numerous deals on your plate at the time to choose from.

After numerous voice mails and emails I finally get an email response from one of them and all they say is that they are looking into it.

There's nothing wrong with vegging out, watching a good movie, or checking in on Facebook from time to time, but it's far too easy to fall into the trap of wasting too much valuable time on things that have no long term worth. 

There are numerous hardships such as your career forcing you to move out of the area that they have programs for.

There are numerous banks or credit unions that will do a secured card with pretty horrible credit.

It seems that California is the hardest place in the country to evict tenants and its a squatters paradise, imo, from the numerous related BP posts.Kudos,Mary   

I have heard numerous podcast here on BP of investors that have their licenses and still do lead generation marketing.