But I will say this...a lot of people have been influenced by TV shows like 'Flipmen', 'Flip This House' and other home improvement, investment shows.

My main influence was the supply/demand equation.

Also keep in mind that all terms are negotiable unlike residential loan (i.e. if they offer 7% w/ 15 yrs then ask them to give you 6% with 20 yrs and interest only payment for 12 months .. since you are a good borrower .. you have plenty of influence on the terms )  

The reason you need to build your circle of influence and know people who might be selling is to build your reputation and trust, after that the problems solving is much easier.

So, if they show their max bid at $125k, and investors are only willing to pay $100k they usually won't bother bidding, and the bank takes it back for the $100 minimum opening bid. 2 reasons I can think of for an investor to bid it up, but below the bank's max bid. 1) Trying to show the bank what investors might be willing to pay, hoping to influence the price they can later buy it for, probably useless2) We had one auction rep who represented a bunch of banks, and was a real prick.  

And influence the path this takes?

Joshsomething that may make linking to the profile easy for the folks who have some issues with links would be is if it could be done as a purl (personalized url)example Or tonyseverino.biggerpockets.comwww.Biggerpockets.com/tonyseverino Just a thought... we use purls in our postcard campaigns,,, traffic jumps when it is personalized.Has the Influence points been added for referrals yet?

My wife works for a global consumer goods company and is a travel "influencer/blogger" on the side. 

Last year 100% of our business came from our sphere of influence (the circle he describes above in green). 

School systems are another factor for the young couple with growth in mind, or for those that have older children what kind of an influence do you want your kids to have in their environment.