At it's core, real estate investment (in all of it's flavors) is a people business.

Then buy some if those flavor injecting needles that you use for marinating meat.

Not to nit-pick the house but to connect with them somewhat on why they want to sell the house and also to subtlely plant seeds to let them know they aren't going to get a retail price for the property.

This is very subtle in terms of activation:(1) If H & W IRA simply decide to participate in a partnership so as to be able to purchase properties for rehab and sell (or rent), but no clear property has been identified at the time the partnership was formed, then enabling has not been triggered.(2) If H & W IRA have decided to partner together to complete an acquisition whether directly from the IRA's or through an entity, and either one of those IRA's cannot complete the transaction by themselves (i.e. having adequate cash, other assets that can be sold in a timely manner, getting a loan, transfers funds in to the IRA), then there is a potential for enabling to be triggered.Enabling an IRA by a disqualified party is a prohibited transaction and can cause the IRA to be disqualified.Do note that the situations I have described in (2) are only a small sampling and you have to document why a specific JV has not triggered enabling.

My tenant has been great - never late w/ rent, and proactively help me fix small problems w/o asking for compensation.Only thing is she wants to meet my wife for some reason...keeps asking me to bring her to the lease renewal that's coming up.How do I tell her no in a subtle way?

Most commercial loans are run through a computer model, but if a banker likes your deal, and likes the design, they can help you out in subtle ways before the numbers are put into the model.

Zillow lets me keep track of values across my portfolio as well, but it doesn't have these subtle yet important features that help me keep track of my portfolio and so I resort to my own Excel table periodically.

The seminar that @Mary B. mentioned are at this next link: http://www.officeofphiladelphiasheriff.com/en/real-estate/upcoming-seminarsTax lien sales at a Pennsylvania sheriff sale come in two flavors - "subject to" and "free and clear"; tax lien sales from the County Tax Claim Bureau also come in those two flavors, but differ as to redemption rights and when a deed is issued to the buyer.So, you want to be sure that your bid will be for a tax lien that you really want.

Its great to hear all of the different flavors of investing here on BP.

The 48 Laws of Power The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*The Advantage (Patrick Lencioni)The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell)The E-Myth