@Matthew W. you'll be getting very familiar with the local EPA...water wells are common...what do you mean by "no water"...are you building over a limestone shelf or something?...

That's the value of an agent who goes hard in the paint on due diligence.Now, an example of an agent thinking creatively and seeing a value-add opportunity that everyone else missed: There was a house that had been on the market for a long time, and the reason was obvious: it was only a 2 br 1 ba house, and the floorplan was very, very weird, so nobody wanted it...however, my agent spotted that the listing had unusually large Sq footage, so we went to check it out...10 minutes after walking into the house, my agent says "we can turn this loser into a winner".

That's unusual and it would be very difficult to find a passive investment like that.Also direct control means you know exactly what's going on.

Even with all this, having an investment turn sour is not unusual.

I see posts on zillow with an unusually low rent and a lot of contacts, yet still on the market after a long period.  

Similarly, it's not unusual for my clients to ask for a preapproval letter for much less than the max they "could" do.

@Jeffrey Mendoza Multiple NODs, month after month, is unusual and I'd question your database or maybe how you're looking at the data.

We came across an unusual situation on a buying trip to Idaho recently.

So if I estimate at 70% and the appraisal misses by 5%, I'm good.And in the very unusual situation where I had one come in beyond that, I simply asked for a new appraisal.

I have been pondering an unusual situation for a while.