Calumet Heights includes an area called Pill Hill, due to its history with African American physicians.

I try to stay mid market and the good ones are getting slim.  

hi david. well, let me start with this. if the house is vacant, and there is a sign in the window from a property management company, then the house has already passed to the bank. it may not be fully foreclosed on, but it is well into the process. the chances of getting it from the bank is slim. basically, you would have to find the owner and pay off the entire mortgage and costs applied thus far to aqquire the house. hard to do. but, here in erie county new york, i find the owners information at www.erie.gov. where you are may have a similar website. usually, at the website, you will want to look for real property information. also, the erie county clerks website will show me any and all legal paperwork filed for the person named as the owner. this is important because the paperwork you find will show you how far into the foreclosure they are. banks have been known to give up on properties that are simply never going to get them enough in return to make it worth their effort to go thru with the foreclosure. they simply file a release of lien or release of mortgage with the county clerks office and they literally give up any claim that they have to the property. usually then, the house ceases to be taken care of by the property management company hired to do so, and it falls into the usual state of disrepair after. at that point, the bank sends a copy of the release of lien to the previous owner and boom, the owner owns the house again. the trouble is that they usually send the letter to the house hat they kicked the guy out of, so he never gets the letter. after a while, back taxes accumulate against the house and if you do not act quickly, the house could go to auction for back taxes. i see you are in new york, maybe not western new york as i am, but you should be able to find similar websites for your area, or just pay a visit to your local county court house. good luck to you

Usually I would say no, but if your unit is priced right  and you're slim on prospects, I'd take it on the condition that they pay a premium for a 6 month lease.  

. $15k on $500k flip, IMO too slim for me.

The numbers on this one look slim, but one could start with worse properties, and I'm sure you will learn a lot!

No matter what their approach is, I think your chances are slim that they agree to sell it to you instead of trying to get more money by having people bid up the price.

. $140 After repair value -28 Minus 20% soft costs$112 - 20 repairs $92 break even point $ 85 your price $7k your profitThat is a pretty slim deal.

Come on now people, lets get back to basics.I feel like I am taking crazy pills sometimes when I read the blogs.

I totally understand your trepidation with the market for M/F properties out there - it's pretty slim pickings.