I use a mix of data provided by ESRI (subscription), CoStar (subscription), municipalities, white papers, and the classic—phone calls, among others.

This is a classic example of creating more work for yourself needlessly.

#not_all_contractors_are_shady  :)Anyway long story short it sounds like you have the classic example of the contractor who isn't so strong on the business end.  

It is a classically bad idea to mix insurance and investments. 

It's the director's job to take whatever situation they have and make it appealing to the viewing audience, so if that includes adding some drama that wasn't actually there, then so be it.One classic example I remember was a certain show about 'Homes' where the granite countertop guys were carrying a slab of uncut granite into a home and dropped it and it smashed to bits.

This is a classic center hall house.

I think it's unrealistic for someone that has been there for 10 years for you to say to just leave or give them a few hundred bucks and they will happily comply.If you wanted it vacant you should have requested the bank deliver it that way before closing or do a DEEP discount to account for the trouble you will deal with.A classic mistake I see is a bank will leave a tenant because they are being trouble and sell as-is.

The classic yellow letter is not designed to get you listing, you will make a lot more money buying the house than you will getting a listing.

One thing I do like to think (as a salary worker and business owner in NYC): Taking money made in the high-wage & high-cost-of-living market like NYC, and then moving it out to the (lower cost) midwest or sun belt is a classic form of arbitrage.

No, I've not seen the inside yet, but I have comped it out and some of those classic (1914) 2/1s have cruised around at $175K.Insights???