My Brothers own several Retail "As Seen On TV" Store.

b) Do you come across a lot of retail buyers driving bids higher?

NOT.Today I am closing (selling) my most recent rehab/retail flip.

Retail paint bids where I am will easily be 2-3 times what J is talking about, for the same job.

There is no way a retail buyer would a) touch that thing b) get it livable in 90 days.

Thanks @Taylor Massive .

They might be out of area owners and not want to deal with a rental anymore and don't want to deal with getting a property ready to sell on the retail market.

For retail sales, 99% of buyers (maybe more) aren't going to care what name you take title in, as long as you take title...so you can generally just tell the closing agent how you want to take title a couple days before closing...

I understand that I need to pay full retail for the property since I am having to option to get my credit issues handled....but is it a safe bet to assume that much appreciation will occur in 24 months?

It's totally irrelevant to the REO dept who you use to finance it, they don't care about profits from the retail side of the bank, and it would give you no advantage.