And if you just skimmed through, I don't blame you :-)Thanks for reading, I hope my experiences and mistakes help someone else avoid them and I welcome any insights/future advice!

Hello BP community,I have done some internet searching for REI groups near Atlanta and have skimmed over a few.

I would milk this for everything you can!

Here it is in case you skim over it: Wow thanks for all of the information John!

Did you use it like a skim coat and sand it so the walls are smooth for a glossy paint finish?

The gallon of milk at the store I bought went up over time.

Some sellers just pass on these hot potatoes, having milked the property by keeping all the rents and not plowing much back into it...Then the exit strategy is to sell to someone who may not recognize all the deferred capital expenses.Some ideas for avoiding the hot potatoes (where everything is at or near the end of its useful like) might be looking at age (but it sounds like most listings are a bit older), so you might only look at those properties with updated major systems and components (HVAC, plumbing, roof, windows, insulation etc). 

We were trying to work with the tenant in the beginning, but they were playing games with us and milking from the system.

This is not selling your interest in a property, since the intent is to give it back to the seller after some equity has been skimmed for your facilitating a deal for the seller.

Either the buyer is doing equity skimming as described here, or the sellers going to stop paying rent and then claim it was a lease but a mortgage and that the "rent" and "repurchase price" are really "loan payments" and a "balloon payment", and the effective interest rate is usury.The article does seem pretty slanted.