Best to know how to calculate what the money is costing you so you can make a more precise and educated decision.John Corey

However to be honest, these are just rough estimates and you really don't know with any precision the capital expenditures that will accrue once you first take possession of the property. 

Also, I have little to none interest in NY (where I live) or NJ (where the condo is), precisely for the reasons you mentioned (high taxes!).

John Rose (at Goosmann Rose Colvard & Cramer) can sometimes do this, and well- he's very precise and solid.

I not only started competing with other investors, but also with a large group of future home-owners trying to score a house in a great school district for their children, and precisely because they are not investors, they only have one worry, and that's that one specific house they put their eyes on, and they won't care to overpay or buy as is.

What I learned from this little incident was to just go directly thru the listing agent, but that still doesn't solve my problem of getting the sellers to accept my bids.The first thing I thought was maybe my offers are too low, so on my last i really dialed in and was a precise as I could be.

That is precisely the reason I said the redemption period is "typically" 6 months which I am sure you would agree with :)  There are always exceptions and people like you who put the time in have benefited from learning the rules.

I ended up having to do just that precisely because of the reason you stated above.

Your expenses look rather precise, where did you derive estimates?

If you are able to find properties with value add opportunities, you can mitigate the risk of not knowing the market with the same level of precision as the experts.