You want to waste $200 and three days, get some fliers printed up for cheap and walk the neighborhoods you are interested in and try to pick up some deals.I can't stand these people. 

This way you can refund their fee having not already wasted it on a background check you did not even need.

I'm a little unsure about how this system works, and of course, being cheap/frugal/ whatever, I hate to waste money.  

So, if you are serious pay it, if not or if it's not a good deal don't waste your money.If I were a seller in a hurry to sell and it was costing me $XXX per day while someone had it tied up while they shopped a buyer I would want assurances they were going to close and  one way is by having a nonrefundable fee. 

Don't waste your time on a dead end when you could be focusing on the next opportunity.  

Then almost certainly a complete waste of time.  

There is one around the corner from one of my properties and they go in a do the bare minimal and usually get "c" tenants.

Property is vacant and needs work, not sure how much because I am not going to waste time visiting the property until I get a signed contract back from them, which should be in the next few days.  

I know I should meet with local people but I'd like to get my level one research straight before I waste someone's time doing Level 2 research. 

I have gone to numerous estimates and honestly some were a huge waste of time.