In a tight situation and need 28k on a 48k single family house, currently free and clear. 6 months ok.

Also with being such a tight deal, I am assuming you will be doing your own work?

My original idea was to convert it to gas, but money is tight and I'd rather not spend 2K for that project.

It's funny (not really), when I moved from investing in my own properties to building for others it seemed like I was taking on less risk, but as I found out, I was actually investing in something that was intangable, and when the market got tight, that intangable was simply gone, along with my investment.

It would be tight.

From what I've experienced, a lot of buyers here tend to be a bit tight w/ their money and the homes here w/an ARV of $500k on up are tied up by Realtors.

If the deal is so tight that 1/2 point in the interest makes the deal a bust, it's probably too expensive for me.

If your not sure about a property..let the seller know you are willing to put it undercontract for the agreed upon price but let them know its a little tight for you and you need to run it by your lender for approval.AS SOON as they accept .....market it to your investor and get them over there to make you an offer as soon as possible.

Shouldn't he have to give us some sort of notice that he feels the lawn is too long and a deadline to have it done prior to him doing it??

In either case, the owner will be squatting after the auction.There's some deadline before the auction, maybe just a day or two, maybe a week, when the auction can still be stopped.