It is an arm's length transaction.List price is often thrown way off by regular sale comps because the banks have not softened the rules.  

In regards to cost, I would rather all my properties be on Well and septic, my personal home is, I hate municipal charges. our rentals on septics we have in the lease that the tenant is responsible to have the tank pumped per local law, if they dont, like unpaid water bills, they will be evicted. wells come with in some cases Iron issues, as well as hardness issues, we supply a filter and softening system, it is the tenants responsibility to replace filters, and fill salt, no different than having them replace furnace filters. yea you may have a pump fail, or a septic fail, but the over all cost can be a CapX item.

The hot water tank here is gas-fired.There is no water softener, as far as I know.

The muni water supplies in Amsterdam, Clifton Park, Schenectady and the surrounding suburbs of Schenectady are all horrendously hard, which can be fixed with a water softener, which is an expense and something to maintain but nothing major, but as Michael mentioned if a house has never had one, the pipes could be shot already.  

Second,  send a mail piece that stands out and or is different that what most investors send... and Third always remember the Flip is in the Follow Up so don't just mail once and then stop or all you have done is soften the target (property owner) for your competition who is not going to stop!

The real estate market here softened a touch - but only in the sense that solid listings aren't multiple offers in 24 hours, a lot of buyers are in "wait and see" mode but that means the ones willing to go ahead and buy have a bit more negotiating power on good properties.  

San Francisco has softened, but I think that's temporary due to transition.

I have seen it soften up a bit in the last month or so.  

Macerate: verb, "to soften or separate into parts by steeping in a liquid."

The only "con" I see at this time is the lower oil price causing some job market softening in Houston, but the impact so far has been small.