This is why you have to do "cost analysis", "comparative market analysis", etc. etc.Telling a seller "you" will "buy" any house in any condition knowing that you are not the one to keep it but are immediately going to flip it - is well in my opinion, it's not only unprofessional but fraudulent.

Also, that there was a new sheriff in town, I'm a former Army SGT, Military Police Officer, with combat experience, and that I don't tolerate shenanigans in my buildings.  

Hello everyone,How do you decide whether a deal is fraudulent?

@Ewa Reza  Banks exert the same amount of overhead per loan done and there are fixed costs usually around 1200-1500 flat on each loan done plus you may or may not pay points depending on the market rate on any given day.Mine min loan amount is 75k and by exception I can go lower but just a little explanation on why you might encounter this resistence with a smaller loan amount.One way a bank will combat much smaller loan amount is by charging a much higher yield spread premium which might cause your rate to be higher.

@Ryan Copeland Don’t let this scare you, it’s a tactic often threatens by crappy contractors (I have filed Legitimate liens as a contractor).  1) there are penalties for filing fraudulent liens2) you could get his lien squashed with one court hearing, assuming it is not legit3) in almost every state there is a mechanism for get the lien “bonded off”, or removed from the property, while you get it quashed or just let it lie since they usually never file the suit to enforce it and liens expire, typically in a year, if the contractor doesn’t file suit to enforce it.

That way you're limiting the expense and risk if the contractor is fraudulent and he takes your 10K$ for material and disappears. now you're just out 10K$ instead of the minimal amount to secure the job. 

I am a disabled combat veteran, and understand that some people need a service dog/ emotional support dog.

Unless you are purchasing a house to live in while you are going to school, I would think that any other type of "speculative" use of that money would be fraudulent.

None of these specialties really relates to RE investing per se.What you do have are people skills and perhaps a nose for scammers, cheats, fraudulent low life types, that are in RE.

The real goal is to understand what asset protection really is, and how to combat it effectively.