Unfortunately he may not really be willing to sell that he just enjoys sticking it to the bank and realtors and doesn't want to give him his hunting spot.  

It will be surprising to you how easy it is to spot a fraud with just these few tips. 

@Joyce Chan Bob's message above is spot on.

In order to make it in today's market you'd definititely need to "buy some cashflow" (higher downpayment) targetting  the right SFH that sits dead center in the sweet spot that families are looking for. 

Or, it could be overpriced.If you would share the address, I'll look at it online and see if I can spot anything.

Sent the owner a letter and a church reach back out to me and said they had three other occupIed unIts along wIth the vacang doubke I spotted for sale.

Sweet spot seems to be 40-80 units.

Review title commitment and survey to make sure to deed restriction and/or HOA in place that would stop you from doing 4 plex2) Meet up with City/County planning office to make sure 4 plex can be build and lot has enough parking spot . 3) Talk to an architect to get an initial foot print, layout and foundation type (i.e. pier beam or post tension slab) 4) Bid out to get estimate for both soft cost (survey + construction drawings + Permit) and hard cost (cost of building)  Without #3 you really cant get hard estimate Problem is that you may not enough time to hash out #2-4.. prior to closing the land .. 

I mean incompetent, didn't check ages of utilities, didn't go in attics, crawl spaces, test any electrical/plumbing, didn't go on or look at roof...

I've heard things like tax debt, remarriage, and sadly a senior couple who could no longer live alone.part of that Is the wet closings you do we do dry closings.. we sign anywhere from 1 week to a few days before the actual recording of the deeds.. then funds are dispersed the next day.. no one gets checks on the spot like you guys do..