One figure I did see was that over 80% of IL residential uses gas heat and I'll bet 98% of the electric is much closer to Cairo, IL than Chicago!

Since you are flipping your best bet is the insurance approach.

@Arpan Patel  can it happen maybe will it happen for 99% of those who REALLY only have 1k in their checking account or less NO WAY NO how.. the best bet for those folks is find a job.. and if real estate is what they want to do then bird dog... or get a license and do leasing.. that works.

IE the loan proceeds are in escrow and are collected funds.this is a very very common scheme all over the US.... sucker rates to sucker people into send smaller money and then wa la they are long gone.. and your ticked off that you fell for it.Use a local HML and see what rates they charge ..

I'm guessing your best bet is to talk an association attorney, obviously one that has experience with co-ops.  

Glad you didn't get suckered into spending $25k.  

Your best bet is to press the seller to provide the documents.

The market here is competitive but there are plenty of renters and I think betting on long term appreciation of prices in residential is a safe bet.

I'd run it by them, and if you send your specifics to @Mindy Jensen, I bet she'd take the time to offer you authoritative feedback too.The '@-mentions' for Manolo, Andrew and Joe didn't turn blue for some reason so I suspect they won't be notified of the mention.  

Amanda Moore I think your best bet is meeting with some locals like Dean above.