I have had appriasals with as many as 8 comps to justify a higher value.It's always better to address changes with the appraiser and as Jason mentions, supply comps up front.

This can present a conflict, but has nothing to do with what we're talking about here.Btw, most REOs are going to have an agent involved, and choosing not to purchase REOs with listing agents will severely limit the supply of inventory a typical investor will have access to.

For example, Silicon Valley (northern California) is bordered by water and mountains on all sides -- without completely redo'ing the highway infrastructure to accommodate long-distance commuting, there is just no room for market expansion.This means that the limited number of properties (supply) is pretty much fixed and as demand increases (there is still a lot of economic expansion in the area), the market values will increase.

You could very well be right Bryan, we were not supplied enough details so rather than speculate, I just dropped teh basic numbers on a retail flip scenario.

So whether I need tools, a vehicle, supplies, building materials or whatever, which is always needed in real estate investing I would always be able to bank the interest in my policy.Now, in addition, I don't know what day I'm going to die so the policy will provide a death benefit to my family or business partners, private lenders in case of my early or unexpected demise.

My only reservation, is vacancy rates which seem quite high, but I'm guessing that is more seasonal, that over-supply.

Not good, but better than the alternative below.I *think* the rumor that David was referring to is that the bank is sitting on lots of REO (not foreclosure) property that hasn't been released to the market.In other words, the families have already been kicked out of the house, the house has already failed to sell at auction, and now the bank has the deed back in their possession.At this point, the houses are sitting vacant and the banks are not listing them, as they don't want to flood the market, which would increase supply and values would drop.

By supplying the down payment - you are basically crippling your kids.

I thought most dishwashers heat the supplied hot water to even higher temps than the hot water heater provides.

Ultimately, the buyer must either be a cash buyer (in short supply you say) or must supply a lender with whatever loan package the lender needs.