The market has shifted a bit and going forward you will need to be buying "off market" to make any money.

He said he has seen sales like this where the seller's friend placed a fake lien on the property at the last minute in an effort to get some money back.

@Chet Freeman, I've interviewed hundreds of investors in all of the platforms, including the hard money loan platforms like Fund that Flip.

So I can use the money for a rehab if necessary. 

and I DON'T think that you automatically have 'analysis paralysis' if you spend some time getting yourself into a stronger financial position, researching, or both. 

@Angela Fondeuri started by renting out a condo that i used to live in, and i grew slowly from there.the reason that i say a cheap property isn't going to help move you forward is because you'll be spending money on it that could be saved for a house hack, and you won't cash flow, because interest rates are too high.i am making numbers up but say you need $40K to buy a property in the midwest in a good neighborhood. 

I am looking at structuring a deal and I'm worried the DSCR will be too low and the deal may benefit from restructuring by purchasing the 2 vacant out of the 12 otherwise occupied units with hard money as opposed to trying to purchase all 12 with a institutional loan just because I'm worried the 2 vacancies will drag down the DSCR for the new purchase.    

But this does not solve the sellers issue of getting the money to help finish their new build. 

It felt like once they had my money, they didn't put in as much effort to keep me.

Regardless, we're all in real estate to make money, and to serve others.