My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

Maybe one of your lowball offers gets accepted.  

On condo/MFH terms for a great deal of it, with extensive revamping of transportation systems.  

It is also the seller's fault for accepting it, they full well knew this was not right.If you were to file for eviction for non-payment of rent, you'd probably win.

Even still, it could be said that I've still lost money due to my time on the tools instead of prospecting as a real estate agent (the cost of lost opportunity).If you can truly do 80%-90% of the work yourself (at acceptable quality levels) and you aren't sacrificing your time where you can get better returns for your efforts, then yes, it can work even up here in Canada.

I think there is even a contingency in place for those whom submit deals that DO NOT get accepted for 3 months in a row.

Otherwise, you could network with a local Realtor to your area and see how many duplexes sell per year within your acceptable driving radius.

And.....”preREO”...just another goofy a$$ made up marketing term. 

Weeks later, it was communicated to us that the underwriter wouldn’t accept the ones signed by only one of us – legally binding for LLCs – and required we send amended copies of leases signed by both of us.

Most of my landlords either don't accept pets at all or are super pet-friendly so pet rent has never been something we have charged.