The furnaces will look identical and honestly who even looks at furnaces.

If you were to share this information, you would be on the path to having your identity stolen.

Question #2:  If I were to make a deal with a distressed homeowner would all transactions be identical to a short sale?

It lasted a few years but has slowed down.If you look at Beaver Falls it is almost an identical layout as Moundsville.

Beyond that, you want comps that are as close to identical as possible in the following area:Style (cape, ranch, etc), year built, beds, baths, sq ft of living area, acres, views, garage spaces, basement, condition and whether REO or short sale.  

We're seeing this occur more often than it should lately, as sellers are having to differentiate between dozens of nearly-identical offers (at least they are in my market currently).

The numbers are nearly identical.

Richmond hill has more new buildings, but houses there are almost identical.

The sales techniques were honed in MLM think of any product that is MLM and the sales pitchs and presentations are identical. you have the first meeting were there is a speaker showing a picture of his wife and kids and its probably not really his wife and kids.. then why do we do this.. we do this for our wife and kids and financial freedom ETC etc they hit all the hot points and RE game is no different you have marketing companies ( primarily based in Utah) that do all the back end work for these gurus'  and make a KILLING doing it.

He later came down to the office in person to meet her and go over some things, small Jewish hat thing on his head and all... it worked out great after the initial double take and dropped jaw, and laughs were had, but it highlights well that, yes, identity stuff still matters to consumers/sellers/buyers/etc no matter how much some might like to pretend otherwise.Real estate professionals generally cannot discriminate on the basis of the federally protected classes.