Open houses and yard signs are strictly for agents to pick up "leads" and have virtually no effect on the sale of the house..  

Also, did you use an interior designer on any of this or just work with your team to pick out finishes?

You can pick up cheap duplexes and triplexes in Birmingham which will cashflow in month 1. 

It would be great to pick it up at a discounted price.I was wondering if anyone has ever been in a situation like this, and either A) tried contacting the owner (company) direct to see if they are motivated to sell much cheaper or B) working through a realtor just make a much lower offer?

Hello everyone,I have been put in a rather unique position and would love to pick the brains of some seasoned veterans here.

No matter what you pick in the Boston area the thing is that yes it will go up so why not try to get into the best future area that you can and see if you can hit it?  

@Katie Huynh Base on my recent experience with making an offer for foreclosure property..Asset manager will review offers and usually will only discount $10k-$15k at a time and pick the highest offer that are closet to list price.

So picking a property that requires a lot of interaction is a bad idea.

I purchase all the material myself using my card and save a minimum of 5% and the contractors like not having to do anything but go there and pick it up.  

Great point- I've been waiting for the perfect job to learn the "ropes"....and waiting for the market to come down...and waiting for the market to pick up....and waiting,....and waiting.....