The Deal: I ended up floating them the verbal offer of 235k but they were not budging and came back at 300k being a fair number.

If the number of doors is what float your boat, you need to find a money guy and get to a fly over state/area.

Unless you make enough money each month to float the entire mortgage in addition to your normal expenses, you should plan for vacancies by saving enough money to carry the mortgage by yourself for at least 3-6 months.- Balancing cash flow and low maintenance is really important for new investors.

simply hire a plane and put the offer on an aerial banner.. to be flown over the sellers home.document it.. 

I would basically be floating on almost 0 net positive cash flow till I could get the prices raised.

Weather is also a concern as homes usually do not float.

I have some offers floating right now and will be getting bids from more contractors, I would love to be able to prove to them that I'm well informed.Again, thanks for the feedback.

So it's OK to float from one conversation to another until you hear (or see) some kind of commonality you can use to strike up a conversation.For example, if you float around and hear someone say they're from a town in Western Mass, and you're from Western Mass, you can wait for a pause or until they're alone and then use that to start a conversation.

So just be sure you really have a handle on what you are doing...find some advisors and mentors who can help...so you don't end up floating down the river without a paddle (so tempted to make a Bird Box reference here... :) )

If it’s worth “just” $825k, then there is not enough ‘meat on the bone’ to be able to get a hard money loan for the down payment, rehab, float you for long enough to be able to flip it, etc.