Mike - I would have to say the learning experience in retrospect was a good one as I definitely got what not to do next time.

If so, a good agent will try to get their client to realize that and change their attitude.Sure, the agent is being selfish to a degree...but a rational buyer/seller would probably appreciate it (and often does in retrospect).

So in retrospect, 4 years of taxes must be paid when buying at the auction.

In addition to that, I bought my first property a day before I deployed for 4 months (probably not the greatest idea in retrospect haha).

In retrospect I wish I had - there's a lot of advantages about them when you read up on it.Buyer paid closing costs: Are you splitting?

(in retrospect it was likely because his commission would have been complicated). 

In retrospect, I should have structured things a lot better than I did but, at the time, I didn't have a proven track record and I thought the deal was fair.

In retrospect I'm thinking that I should've offered $6,500 EM instead of $1K, and also maybe I should've not used my RE agent and gone directly to the listing agent.

The manager of the complex got a deer-in-the-headlights look, and in retrospect, it's probably because she was warned about prepayment scams... but it certainly didn't apply to my situation.

In retrospect he should have got the check and not the keys.