I'm getting married next month, and have been feeling the pressure to buy a condo, that would serve as a home base for me and my wife when I'm in between international assignments (10 days each 4 months) and would hold me and my wife's things (wedding gifts, furniture etc)My biggest problem is that we would only live in the condo about 20% of year, as we would be traveling abroad as part of my job.

I've been called that from about 6yo.My personal preference is to start small but not knowing to much about the game here is limiting my view on how far I can make the 200k go without being able to borrow funds (and which market I ultimately choose to invest)I have completed a 2 page business sketch stating that I'm happy with 2-3 projects in the first year as I'm not putting a ton of pressure on myself time wise.

The mortgagee is also putting pressure on the owner to sell.With no tenant upstairs, and that I have a transferable (if it sells) lease on the building for $1,000 / month for the next four years, I'm struggling to find a deal that works for me and the others.That said, the building is in need of some serious repairs which puts my business in some risk.

My offer on a REO was rejected as too low - the issue with the townhouse is listed at (1)"system did not hold pressure due to damages, unable to find source of allleaks, water heater damaged at side where TPR valve damaged" and (2) "Water Supply and Sewage system was inspected for presence of obvious visible defects.

Seems like they are just stalling for a better offer to me.Anyone have any techniques I could use to put the pressure on this seller and get them to respond?

You won't have a short term balloon either which gives you time to market the property and not get pressured in to taking a bad offer because you are up against a balloon.

@Evan Ventura,People here on BP have also successfully used the cheap IKEA countertops (around $75-99 for a piece). at that price they where treated as expendables (one per tenant), and some even reported getting the install time with demo at 2-4 hours.for the other, you need to "waterproof" the common points of water entry:-caulk between the wall and countertop-use varnish on points contacting sink-use good glue near the oven/range since the usual pressure-activated glue does not fare well with heat

There was an awful lot of loosening that occurred in the late 1990s and 2000s ... we were several steps behind our southern neighbours, but there was lots of industry pressure to head down the deregulation line right behind them.  

These are high pressure sales jobs with tremendous turnover of the sales team.  

I would have the system pressure tested before you decide to start repairing.We bought a duplex where the bank had let the oil run out and the heating system froze.