I also want to see if I can locate a private bank that will do a construction loan tied to a conventional loan to cover the rehab.

I was also planning on attached garages , or depending on the location, drive into the basement is a possibility too.

Go to where cash buyers work....at the courthouse steps buying at foreclosure auctions.If you see a guy bid on and/or buy more than one property,they are or work for cash buyers with lots of investment cash or lines of credit.Walk up to them after the auction and compliment them on their property purchases and offer to bring them more just like it before they get to the auctions.Ask for their criteria (sizes,locations,ages,numbers of bedrooms,condition,etc).Promise to follow up with them ASAP with a property they might like to inspect and purchase.Go to every courthouse you can get to in a few hours driving and you could easily create a list of 30 to 40 real professional cash buyers who act fact and know what they're doing to be profitable in this business.

Where is this REO located?

But there are a lot of markets where shacks pull a million, and that is obviously a location is king issue.I'm not too far from you, and I can tell you my experience buying and selling is that Sf is far more important than lot size around here.

I'm located in the NYC market which has many screw up stories and I happen to make my share in the last 4 years.Here is my recent mistake and hope we could keep this trend going so we could learn not only the good but the bad experience as well.I was rehabbing my flip property with my crew.

Welcome Tim,I have a couple new construction projects winding down in San Antonio, a duplex in NW and a fourplex in NE, both solid locations.  

There are homes that have original finishes, same sf and location and sell for 550k and others that are moderately updated and sell for between 505k and 600k.

I am located only about 40 minutes west of Pittsburgh, PA.

Doing a one-time purchase during the holidays for all your tenants, and mass mailing or driving to each location, is much easier than adding another task to our already busy days as landlords.