What is the best way for me to have full control over the property long enough to successfully put the deal together and protect myself from:- The attorney who looks at the contracts and sees the fat profit I'm about to make and decides he can afford to risk a bit of money so he steals the deal from me- The broker who gets wise to what I'm doing and convinces the seller to sell to him instead- The tenant/end buyer who feels like they would save money if they just wait until my offer to purchase contract expires so they can go directly to the seller and cut me out of the deal - The seller who gets jealous as soon as he figures out what I'm doing and how much I'm going to make, and cancels our contract or provides more red tape so that my contract to purchase the property expires and he can rent or sell the property for a bigger profit.

Even if they are already reaching out to us or another big player in that market, they may respond to your offer as well and you can get your fair share of the action.  

Is that a red flag?

In Japan, the big player is an app called Line. 

Unfortunately, today, most players in this space are also somewhat less than pros and have otherwise agenda, which makes it very difficult for guys like us...Also, in the case of small multifamily, it is possible to chose property which complies to the desirability guidelines similar to SFR, whereby limiting turn-over, vacancy.

This raised a red flag because Wells Fargo did not say that at all.

In the real world, I've only ever seen three paths to success when starting with very little: 1) Some forgiving friends or family backing/money 2) Accidental landlords who wind up with a property (move and don't sell, inheritance, etc) and become real estate investors (house hacking is a subset of this) 3) Super ambitious all-or-nothing types with a lot of guts (1 in a 1000)I think you need to step back and ask yourself what value-add you can provide that other players in your market (with 100 times more experience and capital) need or lack.  

Only 400 liens is a pretty small auction and many of the large national players wouldn't even show up.

I think the big players probably mail all the lists.

Now I know nothing of that market it could be red hot for all I know.but smaller town markets tend to be slow movers and usually discounted purchase price from ask because there is so much to choose from.that's the basics