I understand how short sales work, the issue is that if I negotiated the short sale myself, I'm fairly confident I would have been able to negotiate the range lower than the realtor.My question was really in regard to my options being that another party already negotiated a price, not so much how short sales work.

When the home was staged and maintained in mint condition, I was very confident I could get $2200.

For confidentiality, I will not post details on BP.Alternatively, although I have connections with many hard money companies nationally, I'd like recommendations from anyone with a positive experience with one of the national companies, so that I can find new sources.

On commercial properties there are many reasons why a properties full information is not disclosed.1.The property is a vacant REO building and has no numbers besides taxes.2.The bank or receiver took the property over recently and no data was given to them by the old property management company or by the previous owner for adversarial reasons.In these situations you price in the worst case scenarious to be safe.3.In commercial you get many off market properties because the seller doesn't want the sale made public.4.The seller has demanded that minimum info be listed on the listing and only when a buyer is qualified as credible and serious and has signed a confidentiality and disclosure disclosure agreement then the info will be shared.The seller might not want the information of how their property is operating to get into the competitions hands.I do agree that many investors will keep different reserves based on individual preferences.Where this comes in big though is there are industry averages where unless the buyer will be paying all cash or owner finance they will be getting a loan from a commercial lender.This commercial lender will price in reserves to the numbers and marketing costs because if the lender giving the loan has to foreclose they will operate it and value it based on their expenses and not the owner who self manages,does their own pest control,makes their own repairs,etc. to increase margins.This is a number one reason loans do not get funded.An investor shows a deal cash flowing 5,000 a month on a apartment building and the numbers are real.However the commercial lender comes to 3,500 a month cash flow after their analysis of how they would run it an dhow it would perform if they took the property back.This is why owner finance and putting little to no money down to preserve liquidity is the name of the game.Leveraging yourself into as many properties as possible UNDER THE RIGHT TERMS with smart growth taking advantage of the down markets is key.We have real estate niches for a reason.There are different flavors for everyone.It also depends on the investors goals.If they have millions already and are just trying to get a certain return and stay above inflation each year with not much headache then yes turnkey might be the answer for them.If you are going to do that I would go for triple net corporate rated tenants and collect mailbox money than deal with toilets,tenants,and termites,and eviction headaches.I deal with this on my apartments but my returns are way over 7 to 8%.So what you take on versus the expected return is key to doing a deal or not.I find generally landlords once they hit a certain age and life just get tired and want someone to take over their problems.This is when at 36 I still have gas in the tank and I am willing to take on big headaches for big returns.Later in life that might change what kind of portfolio I want to hold and grow.I personally stay away from buyers wanting these little houses for 35,000 that give off 700 a month rent.The investors are out of state and want you to micro-manage for them at 60 bucks a month and it's not worth it.I own many apartment units and even with a maintenance guy and a property manager living on site it can be very intensive to run correctly.It is not as easy as everyone thinks it is especially when most investors will be buying older buildings on value add deals.It's easy when a building is brand new and tenants want to sign up left and right and there are little to no repairs to speak of.When you buy new though you pay a premium for it.If you want to create wealth you need accelerated returns.I have really enjoyed this discussion so far.

Jon, Are you confident I can sell my half ?

Since we would share somewhat confidential information it's important that the group be dedicated to helping each other and open to listening to new ideas.

I disagree about the charging the upfront fee makes a serious buyer.I can't tell you how many scammers I have seen in the commercial lending arena.I can say one problem lenders face is they get a package submitted to them and then give an LOI.Then in due diligence the buyer finds out the income levels and returns were not as stated.Now the lender wants a bigger payment down from the buyer or the buyer has to get the seller to reduce to the actual proven numbers.The deal falls out and the lender made nothing.The way to solve this is submit a detailed and verified package upfront.This way you know the numbers you are sending have been verified.Lenders site confidentiality etc. when doing loans so you can't verify other properties they have closed.If lenders state money has to be in escrow or a deposit have YOUR attorney hold in an account the lender does not have access to or authorization to.This way the money can be shown to be there and earmarked for the purposes of the loan.I am telling you these scammers will do anything to separate you from your money.I know some deals I wasn't involved in where the people chased the lender for 6 months to get back 500k.Do not let lenders PUFF fees.If they say they have to pay for appraisal then tell them you will pay the appraiser directly.If you are a legit lender and you make money when you close a loan you should have no problem with this.If however you are a fee generator mill and you hardly close anything or a point taker with upfront fees I can't tell clients to work with you.Some point takers take money to submit apps knowing the lender will not close or that it's a sham.They usually charge a small amount upfront to entice the victim.Usually 500 to a few thousand.

J Scott- not sure if you are a Falcons fan or not, but being the most prominent member of BP I'm aware of that is from Atlanta... thought I would offer a friendly wager...Loser of Sunday's NFC Championship (even, no spread) makes a donation to BP... amount can be confidential or public... your call.

If you are talking about using info. from your job in an outside venture you will probably want to make sure there are no confidentiality issues.2.

I'm over it and now it's time to move on to the next deal.By the way, anyone got a confidentiality agreement I could model after?