The books that I have read have taught me about REO homes and the examples in the books didnt seem to bad or unrealistic (as far as % down and a lot of other things banks require for a loan) but I am learning something different on BP!

The properties available are in truly heinous condition and sellers are unrealistic about their value.

Contractors do not take that kind of abuse, bad economy or not, end of story.In how many languages can you say "staged", "phony", "unrealistic", and "pathetic"If you actually ran your business the way these characters on TV shows do, you would be out of business!!!

I've 2 friends that are considering becoming "members" despite my warnings of those unrealistic claims.

In my opinion, these kinda people either have no idea what they want, unrealistic expectations about price, or just REALLY like to window shop. 

To be fair, I would agree that there are situations where their are investors "wasting" the listing agents time, by making unrealistic offers, without doing their homework, and blindly ignoring any specific instructions in the MLS.What makes you think I would "back out too".

Mostly bad ones you lose your shirt.So I would rather have 4 -  5 million dollar commercial properties priced to sell then take on 20 where the sellers are wanting unrealistic pricing.You get PAID when a property closes.

The only way you're going to get to a 20%+ IRR, is through value add short term investing or unrealistic assumptions. 

I know it’s all a “numbers game” and I feel like I grasp the numbers but I don’t know if I am overlooking something or unrealistic in my expectations.

I have a burning question. I’ve been in RE as a buy and hold investor for 5 years. I’m trying to figure out if my expectations of my RE Agent are too high. I started with a real estate agent who showed me the ropes.. ...