Based on your flawed logic, if you just got out of bankruptcy, have a 400 FICO and no job, as long as there is a "will" and good luck you'll find a "way" to buy a houe?

He has been divorced twice, bankruptcy, bad credit etc. so he told me but that he couldn't get a loan. 

I'm curious - is there any more or less straightforward way to find out if the property is being involved in a bankruptcy or divorce/probate case, or any such?

If it is a chapter 11 not a 13 then the Bankruptcy trustee has a lot of power. 

The bond market is in a bubble due to fed purchases, record debt in student loan,auto and credit cards, the imf says 15% of listed companies can't affordthe payments on their debt, and this year has seen 65% increase in corporate bankruptcy filings, tesla has never made a dime, amazon makes 0$ on merch sales, etc,etcShort term buy and flips are probably a lot less rissk now.

Would it be in the bankruptcy file? 

Aside from a major event like a bankruptcy or foreclosure, often times its that your credit card usage balance to available credit percentage is too high.

I did a chapter 7 bankruptcy about 2-years ago.  

Here are some of my random thoughts on this.You want subs who's work is constantly done in a “workmanlike manner”, who will show up when scheduled and finish on time and on budget.When you are running a job, it's important that Trade A complete his work (ie Electrician) before Trade B (Drywall crew) arrives a week later, because if that doesn't happen you lose control of time, and time is money (Unforeseen construction delays and cost over runs can throw a project into bankruptcy).This requires good subs, and if they don't pull the load with this, replace them quickly.Learn how lien releases work in your locality (it's different all over), get lien releases when you give a check...no lien releases, no check.

In Indy, depending on whether you are looking for an investment or a home for yourself, you could buy quite a bit of home.For $250k, you could buy 6 or 7 cash flowing duplexes that would generate you about $2500k/mo in net cash flow.For $250k, you could get yourself a 3000-4000 sq ft home with 4 bd and 3bths and still have 10% equity if you take your time.Because of the nearly 1000 new foreclosures a month, 1000 new bankruptcy's a month and our market currently being 19% under value, we are a hot spot and in a great buyers market.