Thanks for your insight, Owen.Thankfully I have a couple agents with Goosehead that have been great in assisting my members. 

I can tell you from someone who has watched the Palm Beach County auctions for a couple years that it is very rare to see any real deals there.

They have never had a problem buying it with a new retail lender.I would say the seller not profit is correct but the lender will usually pay them a $1500-$3000 Seller Incentive on the HUD.I like your definition of: "buying a property for less than the amount owing"Most investors MISTAKENLY say that a short sale is selling/buying a house: "when the loan is more than the house is worth" I've bought a couple of short sales, but it's been quite a while.

I have taken courses through a couple of providers here in the twin cities whether for continuing education or licensure.

I will recommend you compare rates with a couple of lenders to make sure you get the best rate and terms possible even though hard money comes with higher rates but usually for not more than a year. 

I’m Looking to build personal relationships with a couple of private investors. 

-- and then we look closely, and see that A dropped some hit as soon as Fannie dropped it, but B is still holding onto it so the mid-level manager (5 levels above who you get to speak to as a general consumer) can take a fancier vacation this year.The cash out and 2-4 unit hits haven't changed in the last couple years, you still will not get the rate you see advertised everywhere, for a cash out 2-4 unit, since the advertisements are all for rate/term SFR 740+ FICO <75% LTV, etc, the perfect scenario that rarely pans out in reality. 

Hi Dan - a lot has changed over the past couple years, DSCR has remained the go-to for STR, are you still in the market?

The answer is yes and yes - you should be able to do a DIY CSS (using kbkg.com/residential-costsegregator or diycostseg.com) for under $500.You do need to couple your question with the other ones mentioned in replies here - will you benefit from it, will you be able to use all those accelerated deductions?

An example is a retail/service center I currently own with a couple of other investors.