So far no luck but after attending the TREIA meeting last night I learned that the inventory in this area is desperately low so finding the deals is somewhat difficult.Check out TREIA's website for their calendar of events.

Above all else I am a persevering expletive that will make this happen, somehow.Dear Santa / BP I have been a moderately behaved boy and would desperately like some;AdviceGuideanceMentoringOh, and a bit of funding Thanks all Ash

You look desperate. 

Sadly, many buyers are actually paying these prices, because they are desperate to get deals and lack the discipline to wait until the market corrects.If you know that you can get the higher rents and are willing to accept a little vacancy in the short run, then this is a garden-variety value-add deal, assuming that you have the capital to do the value-add.I would try to get a handle on the rehab costs (worst-case scenario), and then take that to the seller and tell him that the property is overpriced because it needs X, Y, and Z, and show them the estimates you got.  

Save money and wait for the right deal and do not get desperate!

Where were all those desperate people that I just left days ago with their bids?

You have to have both a buyer and a seller that are both willing and able to close in order to create a transaction, and price and terms are the market mechanisms for equalizing supply and demand to create transactions across a market of buyers and sellers ... inefficiencies can occur when there are distortions in the market that limit the number of buyers or sellers or otherwise creates an inequality between buyers and sellers that cannot be easily resolved by the usual market mechanisms of price and terms.Inefficiencies can have a dark side, as eluded to in comments above ... if an inefficiency is artificially created so that a more sophisticated operator can rip off a less sophisticated, weaker, and/or desperate person, that may be profitable and even legal, but can also be morally appalling IMO ... this never gets discussed in polite conversation here on BP but think it is important to understand.

The property looked good and the numbers worked out so it should cash flow generously, but I ended up passing on yet another property, despite honestly feeling desperate to make a purchase.  

So there are people out there so desperate for return they'll take a chance on this guy again.  

In a strong market, there are very few that will take less unless they are desperate.