However, we were basically gambling on every transaction at this point in our career.

@Steve Vaughan  agreed very slippery slope... we all hear about Hewlit and Packard starting in a garage with 15k of credit cards in the early days... and well look where they ended up.. so who knows.. but it sure is a gamble.

IMHO,  whats important is to walk the property, otherwise, you are taking a vegas gamble with not being able to see the inside. 

Folks just have to realize NO money up front and especially.I wish BP would be able to tag the American Greed episode on REmington financial and tag Ingrid Robinsons website .. these were classic cases of fake lenders.. with Ingrid being the victim and taking down Remington who had been doing this for over 20 years.. those guys had some cajones they took Due Diligence and deposit money for all those years but never over 10k so anyone complaining it would not go anywhere.. it was said on the show that in all those years they closed no more than 3 or 5 loans.. both the principals got major prison time.the issue today is most of these folks are hiding on the internet or are off shore very tough to catch and your not getting any funding or money back thats a given.

Every time a tenant moved out 3 out of 8 evictions or so, it felt like a gamble, with someone leaving the place in ruins. 

I buy my leads from a friend offshore with a 80-90% contact rate.

my problem is I have not found anyone who will look at the deal until i have it under contract so I dont know how it will go and I am speculating as to what I think it will go for.I don't have 500 or a 1000 to lose on a gamble.

I think it's fine to risk a small portion of your net worth on a gamble, but everything else means betting the farm.Speaking of farm, here are 50 acres in Hilsboro for $3M https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/NW-West-Union-Rd-Hillsbor...Dang, maybe if I..?

Google street and sat view are only your friends to eliminate property....not to determine what you will buy....I swear up and down to people all the time...go look at what you plan to buy.....don't gamble. 

In term of reward, I know the reward of mortgage note, but for tax lien it's kind like semi gambling.