Solution:oStop dipping your toe in the water and go ALL IN on one marketing channel (in case you are wondering, Direct Mail is my bread and butter when it comes to finding motivated sellers).oMake one channel Fat, Healthy and Producing Leads first.

REMEMBER: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. 

Chicago code is that EACH habitable room must be at a SUSTAINED temerature of 68 degrees F during the day and SUSTAINED 66 degrees F at night.

Even if you are holding the cash on the sidelines while you look for a deal, you still are better having access to the cash instead of having a fat balance sheet.

Many years ago, stock brokerage had fat commissions.   

Save the money for a year or two and start looking for a "fat pitch."

My hope is that all the soccer moms (and dads) go out of business and I can get their 6 deals a year too.For everyone that goes out of business someone replaces them.. its takes a big fat economic recession to winnow the licensed agent pool. 

We're seeing pricing vary drastically even just going 20 miles south of the city just because everyone is so "fat and happy" with work.

Will,Thanks, if you don't mind I will PM you with the details (and update this thread) as I get them.Rents are steady in the area at around $850 for 3 br units, this has 3/3, and conservative after repair market value is $175-200k.Not to get ahead of myself but...If it was to short sale, how would I position myself to be THE buyer and limit any unwanted competition?

TenantAlert gave our best tenant a big fat red circle, recommending not to rent to them.