If you borrow to bring in the house you will have to factor it into your sales price... opinions vary... but that is my quick and dirty take...

Maybe the totals year over year would be pretty identical if you factored in short sales as well.I definitely see a lot more short sales on MLS than I remember from last year.What I am seeing is a lot less of the lower priced houses (sub 100k) these days.

Their opinion was that fair market is broad and could be lower or higher based on many factors: condition, long term versus short term, knowledge of the pending foreclosure going into the lease, etc.

Another important factor is what bank services the loan(some require submittals through Equator) who owns the loans, is it Freddie, Fannie, FHA, does the investor participate in HAFA, etc.

And we always factor in if any improvement will actually bring higher rents enough to justify it.

Bryan, First, I only respectfully disagree when I see something which is extremely off base, granted I do enjoy a good debate, I want anyone to get the most accurate information and not be dissuaded by inflated fear factors.

It has nothing to do with the integrity,structure, condition ETC. of the property.

How is the mortgage factored into the purchase price?

I believe that the vinyl plank will prove more durable in service than the laminates, so that might be a deciding factor.

There are thousands of others who were just as bright and yet didn't have this same "alignment of the planets" that led to their success.A huge factor in success is, in fact, NOTHING BUT LUCK.