@Daniel Sisto  that is my assessment and also the foreign buyer has gotten a very very expensive education at the hands of some pretty tough  marketing companies and not so ethical resellers.

buy a house in Dallas from the comfort of NY and resell to a Dallas buyer who will then rehab it?

So, I find ways to lower my cost basis by reselling or buying second hand.  

If it needs $20K ($12-20 = 20 if not 25), then retail on the place is $120K or less.If you were buying this as an investment that you wanted to rehab and resell, you wouldn't want to pay more than $78K.

You can then rent them out, fix them up and resell--for the ARV!

War zones have very little if any resell value.

Doesn't seller have to sign cancelation agreement to resell property.

You won't be able to re-sell it for the next 5+ years since the vast majority of buyers in low-income areas have been completely wiped out of the marketplace.

Banks won't allow you to "assign" the contract, meaning they won't allow you to take the contract that you have with them and pass it on to another investor to close the deal.That said, the bank can't stop you from immediately reselling the property to another person (a double close) or even selling at the exact same time as you purchase it (a simultaneous close).

Further you have to spend time to understand the HOA and make up of investor owned vs owner occupied units as this will affect your ability to resell the unit.