When you can stop the bleeding and send them on their way as an ambulatory patient while saving them with the opportunity of you being paid for your efforts is usually the right time to buy in any market

A DIL is a voluntary surrender of the property by the borrower to the mortgagee for the satisfaction of the debt.

I'm lucky enough to have a patient agent who was willing to walk through plenty of houses with me.

Other priorities like insuring you have the proper emergency funds in place, building your credit and relationships with loan officers, finding the right deal with the right cash flow, learning to be patient and passing up the ones that aren't right for you, should have much more priority over simply having a property under contract in x days.

Well done @Christy GlennJust submit those offers and be patient until the right deals comes along.Have a great day.

Maybe they can chime in.If you're patient, don't worry about deals getting tied up by someone else.

I probably should have let the potential buyer select their colors and tossed them the keys, but I really wanted the satisfaction of living there for a time so I turned them down.

Be patient, build good relationships, treat people to lunch or coffee, and keep growing.

However, If time is not very crucial and you decide to make renovations yourself, you should research reputable contractors and have them do the job to your satisfaction.

If you can do it in a few months kudos to you - but just know that if you don't this whole REI process takes time and you need to be patient.