I am using excel combined with craigslist rss.

I am used to vbulletin style forums, so maybe I am missing something in terms of PMing.

I will also shop around myself to compare vehicles out there other than the servicing company I am using.

I am using contacts I have and friendships I have made over the years to get work done at cost or close to it. 90 0/0 of work I will do myself.

I am using a leasing agent to get one of my properties in another state rented.

I still have no problem going direct to listing agents if I need to but I have found two that I will never do business with again so if they have anything I like, I am using my agent, I may or may not get it but there is always another house!

joel, he said it's just the opposite:he used to do residential and about 10 yrs ago he switched over to commercial. he said he does about 4-5 deals per year. but he is active all day, every day. i dont know how he can survive on 4-5 deals per year. maybe they are enormous deals.when i asked him to give me an insurance guy, he said "oh, i dont want to get into that in case anything happens with policies and coverages. i stay away from that stuff". that was weird since he thinks that the blame would be on him should anything happen to a property.anyway, i am still looking. i found an attractive duplex that came up yesterday for 86k. 2 streets over, there are 2 other duplexes that are asking 126k. but i am using a different agent this time. will see what happens.

I am a business man and am use to cultivating relationships with people for different reasons, at the first meeting should I stick my neck out there and start asking who the cash buyers are?

I am using the assessed value to determine what price I should offer.

I read the "yellow letters" with amusement.