Any external influences such as short sales, death, divorce, etc that affect a sale price means that property should not be used as a comp.

I have just discovered BP in the last few days and have been listening to podcasts non-stop it seems.

As far as what you can do IF it is in pre-foreclosure, you can 1. do a short sale2. bring the loan current and have the borrower move 

Hey BP Community,Long story short... before BP I received some "bad" counsel from a CPA to put our properties in an S-Corp instead of an LLC (properties are in Sacramento California if that matters).Fast forward 5 years and some of the properties have almost doubled in value.  

If you haven't discover it already this is a great place for information on anything having to do with Real Estate Investing (REI).

you've definitely come to the right place.the podcasts are fantastic, as you are discovering...

But is there any other solution to update them short of pulling them off the wall and rocking everything?

I know it's short notice but the Las Cruces Real Estate Investors club meets tonight at 7:00 at 205 W Boutz Road, Building 6.

He puts all his short term rentals on one side of the apartment, and the long terms on the other side.

Wholesalers can be a good way to short circuit the search process.