However, merely filing probate is not a signal that a surviving spouse wishes to sell, let alone a distress sale.To the contrary, look for estates with multiple, compounded issues (vacant, back taxes, foreclosure, multiple heirs or beneficiaries, etc.).

I never once stated that you claimed flipping was easy or that you were bowing smoke.

@Michael Plaks, I concede and bow to my obviously much older colleague :)  Naps always!

In a more classic retirement plan, the focus is on compounding tax-sheltering over time to maximize growth of the retirement savings. 

Yeah you're in the bay too so the risk in a cyclical market is compounded compared with a linear / flat market like most of the interior core of the country.When you're at 75-80% LTV in a linear market the risk is arguably much lower than if you're in a 1k per sqft values in the upper luxury condo market of seattle core/bellevue or Pennisula/San Fran  markets using this AIO product.

Credit card interest is higher than usually any investment you can do - remember their interest is compounded DAILY

You try and compound your returns every deal and eventually they get bigger and bigger.

So a few items compounded with me deciding to reevaluate.I am still in the market and looking for additional properties to move forward with but just decided this particular scenario wasn't it for me.

I'd rather pay a lot of principal and way less interest or taxes, that stuff compounds way more than anything else. 

Truly good point, which is why I said at the beginning that they (the purveyors (the underwriters) of title insurance) are absolutely self serving but a necessary evil.The threat of foreclosure was there, but the underwriter would never let that happen as this would compound their liability.so whether or not this was handled properly, they ended up being glad they got the insurance.😀