If I can bring someone on to help negotiate deals and meet with sellers that would make my life much easier.

It's money to cover rehab costs only, about 15k, so i was thinking of negotiating a portion of the ARV as my return, creating a note and recording it against the property.

After speaking w/the homeowner today I think the town may be more willing to negotiate or work with them/me than I initially thought.

I heard some investors deed the property to themselves, and then try to negotiate with the bank as them as owners.

When I purchased a duplex, I decided to keep the existing management company in place which may have been a mistake as I didn't spend much time checking out their reputation.The monthly fee charged to LL seems to be 10% but this can and should be negotiated to a lower amount of 6-8% depending on the number of properties managed.

After reading "deals on wheels" and "mobile home wealth" I was determined to scour all the local parks to find single wides with $5000 asking prices, and negotiate them down to a $2000 cash sale.

It's possible I've just gotten good negotiators or asset managers, but my BoA short sales have actually been going quite smoothly recently.That said, historically they're very difficult, and we've been struggling with them over a bankruptcy issue for one of our sellers recently, and they are being ridiculously difficult.

Sometimes, you'll also see "active/contingent" which means in negotiation, but not under contract yet.

Great list @Ky Sharp If you are confident in your analysis and buying all cash the appraisal/bpo isn't necessary but an appraisal may help you negotiate if it comes in low.We like to have two or three mgt companies walk the property during due diligence and propose their mgt plan that includes a capex and/or repositioning budget.If the subject property and all properties nearby are the only things ever built on the land there you may not need a phase 1 environmental but if it's a large property and/or you're bringing in outside capital (lenders or equity partners/investors) having one demonstrates your thoroughness and professionalism even if one is not required.If there isn't a recent survey one it may be required but if one is not required getting a new one falls under the same considerations as above.We have gone to always having an engineer do the inspection even though it can be 2x what a non-engineer inspector may charge.

The second way good agents help is with negotiating.