Some simple things to look at are: is the exterior or interior paints either faded or have an outdated color scheme?

In the grand scheme of things, brokers usually can get lending from anywhere in the country so being local is not really that helpful.Cheers!

@Faiz Kanash Like many things, color schemes, layout, etc….they don’t affect value/appraisal, it’s a matter of appeal, desirability and a sense of quality.

@Kelley Ogletree Fortunately there is no trick or special skill set for making money this way, in the grand scheme.

They ultimately did obtain a mortgage which was secured by the property, but the fuzzy area for me is how they obtained a mortgage in the first place.The DOJ is prosecuting the borrower for two other bank fraud schemes wherein he temporarily misappropriated funds (he's a fiduciary) to create collateral accounts for the purpose of inflating the balance for the 3-4 months required to qualify for, induce loans from, third party banks.A few days ago the DOJ submitted an exhibit list for his jury trial that included mortgage loan docs for my sale, and there was a collateralized account with a bank with a  credit line that exactly matched the mortgage amount he obtained from a lender. 

@Lina Riley, real estate is not a get rich quick scheme (unless you listen to the influencers selling their courses).  

The one thing that cannot be overstated is that owning real estate is not a get-rich-quick or easy scheme.

I reming myself that REI is a long game and not a GRQ scheme. 

Has anyone done this 500k challenge with Bill Allen, or is it another one of those pay to play schemes?

Plenty of ways to get deals done that don't require the straight forward bank lending scheme.