I find "what not to do" advice to be magnitudes more applicable than all the mixed signals on what's required.

I know there's a lot of factors involved in determining a market's desirability for investments, but on a very basic scale, is finding historical data that reveals such strong metrics in a market a sign to invest, or does it signal that the market is now hot?

What would be a conservative unit cost to rent ratio that would signal a good deal, using a safe 50% for expenses.

Make sure the schedule is accurate, when you’re ready to bid, just like the shows you watch, raise your card to signal your bid at the price announced.

He gives us a call or leaves a note going over the bullet points and one of us has to go in and sign all the checks, put stamps on the envelopes, drop them in the mailbox for our subcontractors and mailman to pick up and this takes us all of 1/2hr a week and saves us more hours than I know (I've never been as organized as him so I don't even know where to start) and is a giant stress relief.

Some experts state they have their buyer come to the closing first to sign all the paperwork and then have the seller come an hour later to pick up their check.

@Tim Herman thank you for the insight but what are the actual procedures as far as getting them to sign all the right paperwork and as far as that goes ?

An appraisal defined as a price is of course always subject to the inherent variance in the market, but it can be a clear signal you are paying top dollar @ $150k, or maybe even more than top dollar.At the end of the day however, cash is king and if you have it, pay whatever amount you want to! 

I invest in c and d areas with a lot diversity myself so I don’t need lectured with the virtue signaling .  

I’m pretty sure it’s not realistic for one person to send out 4K plus direct mail in 4-5 hours while driving for dollars as your not just sending mail out to every house, your looking for distressed signals.