While looking for those sellers, you will probably come across some who are more ripe for a shortsale or even traditional listing at retail that you can refer to your realtor friend.

There are a couple of threads about Michigan laws (closing requirements / restrictions, etc) and I'm curious if you've been successful with any "traditional" wholesaling methods.

Hopefully in the future the trend will turn to more traditional sales in the area and I can try to sell then.

He also discusses a few important topics not covered in most other financial books: how military pensions work, the actual value of a military pension, TRICARE, how you can use the Thrift Savings Plan, using real estate to further your goals, and even joining the Guard or Reserves instead of doing a traditional 20 year active duty tour.

Esentially it boils down to evalutating what is truely important to you, then being open to alternatives to the "traditional american consumption based lifestyle".

They allow traditional multi family projects 5-50 units and the program is geared specifically for the "mom and pop" landlord.

Traditional financing with 20% down.

I'll be renting initially but will look to find the right house to buy as a primary residence.I assume that if a house I find through my marketing is habitable and is one I'd like to live in, that I wouldn't have trouble using traditional bank financing.

I figure these are great people to know, since they obviously have cash on hand if they are buying properties at Sheriff's sales.Congrats on this - these guys can be ruthless and sometimes only buy super bargains, but still, you now are connected with no doubt multiple millions in cash should you come across a super sweet deal.Not the first group to sell to (they are far from retail buyers) but it all depends on which ones you have met - I know in my area some of the courthouse steps guys are willing to operate on lower margins than other traditional investors because they are working on volume.

The only way I can see getting these terms are traditional financing which would highly doubtful/impossible I would think.