Investing out of state has lots of unknown for the beginning investor.

It's value is UNKNOWN. 

in regards to participating in Auction.com; online auctions, (and an out of country investor with boots on the ground to mobilize any rehab after the fact and peak in windows before hand)  ....is there any immediate hick up I am not seeing, regarding funding, earnest money, anything else, that should keep an out of country investor sidelined......I have never participated in an online auction and would like to participate while I am out of country....fear, unknown is keeping me sidelined.mattlooking at florida market particpation, jacksonville fl

I am with all the people who shared thier thoughts, there are a lot of unknowns, but also in the end time will tell.

When that happens the price paid has to go down for unknowns that cannot be validated correctly.

Mgt -- $120.00Mortage $340Closing Costs - $5000Rehab (walking through in 5 days) -- $5000Down payment -- $15,8000Total Investment = $25,800Cash-on-Cash ROI = 10.21%Notes:I'm sure there will be rehab required, that's the biggest unknown right now. 

The rent and utilities is unknown so I estimated.Rent = 900x2            1250x2Mortgage = 2000Tax = 3318Utilities = 9000Maintenance = 5160 (%10 of annual rent)Insurance = 4000Net Income = $6122 ($510/month)The insurance number and the utilities and rent are all estimated based off of my current house.

There are simply too many unknown variables about a property to refine your numbers to 100% accuracy but the more you know about a property, the better your "Guesses" are going to be.As you noted, the down payment requirements on even Small Commercial buildings (< 1MM) are still hefty.

Someone who responds to an ad on the Internet is an unknown in terms of their character, even though they fill out an application and undergo a background check of some sort.In the past, I would get a discount on a month's rent if I renewed my lease by a certain date.

The garage has been closed off and intended to be turned into another unit at one time, but previous owners had stopped after installing a new furnace and AC for unknown reasons.