My point is, you can get silly creative in a way to rationalize to the IRS, lenders, etc. that everything is on the up-and-up but it's still a misrepresentation of your intentions and (therefore) fraud.  

Figure out a way to turn that frown upside down, but you won't likely do that by holding rigid and making no changes ... if this stuff were easy, then everybody would be doing it, and frankly right about now it sounds like everybody may be trying to do it in your market ... so, zig while they zag; look where they aren't looking, but do so with caution and rationality because just because it is different does not necessarily make it better.

Talk to active flippers in your neighborhood and ask them what they ended up paying for rehab on their last few deals.This back of napkin stuff will still have huge margins of error though, so ultimately you will need to make the lowest offers you can negotiate and back those offers up with some sort of rationalization for them to ever be accepted.

Also, what can I expect as a rational short sale price?

Hey @Dong Yan what you are looking for is called RUBS (ration utility billing system).

I am confused as to how to select a turnkey company on a rational ROI basis.

But think about rationally.

Because the survival instinct will always win out over the rational brain & our elders continue to pass on our younger generations will, as a method of "connecting" hold on to   more & more stuff going forward.  

Don't try to rationalize a bad deal into a good one by using phrases like, 1 - "I think my repair budget is high.

I am wanting to gather some data for some of the following areas:Price rations between distress and retail housesThe real estate supply in the area (How many months it would take to clear the market)How to find out if houses are actually being sold (I am want to make sure 60% of them are beingIs it possible to gather this data myself without having access to MLS?